A while back, I posted about the sexist way our society approaches fathers, daughters, and dating. You know, the whole "I'll have to get a shotgun to keep the guys away from my daughter" meme and the "I'm not letting her date until he's thirty" line. I know, I know, I've had people insist to me that it's a joke and I'm taking it too seriously, but I'm sorry, if it's a joke it's a sexist joke that perpetuates sexist ideas about women and removes agency from girls and women.Take a look at this … [Read more...]
Why Empower Girls If You Can Just Protect Them?
February 4, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The Tomboy in Skirts
May 25, 2015 by Leave a Comment
My six-year-old daughter Sally wears dresses, well, basically, all the time. If she's not wearing dresses, she's wearing skirts. I can't think of the last time I saw her in shorts, and she swore off pants last year. Too uncomfortable, she said. When it's cold, she wears leggings under her dresses. Dresses, dresses, always dresses. This is weird to me. I grew up in a conservative evangelical homeschool culture that valued female domesticity. When I was 13, I swore off pants. I believed women … [Read more...]
A Matter of Patriarchy
April 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday I saw a trailer for the new Christian movie, A Matter of Faith.The film's website offers this summary: A Christian girl, Rachel Whitaker (Jordan Trovillion) goes off to college for her freshman year and begins to be influenced by her popular Biology professor (Harry Anderson) who teaches that evolution is the answer to the origins of life. When Rachel’s father, Stephen Whitaker (Jay Pickett) senses something changing with his daughter, he begins to examine the situation and wh … [Read more...]
When Marriage Looks Like the Only Escape
April 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Over the weekend I spent time speaking with yet another young Christian homeschool graduate considering early marriage. We'll call her Jen. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have heard this story. Speaking with this Jen, I was reminded, once again, of my own youthful wedding, and the decisions I made at the time.Jen told me she felt if she got married, her parents would give her breathing room---and stop trying to sabotage her relationship with her boyfriend. The sad thing is, … [Read more...]
Israel Wayne on the (Patriarchal) Father’s Role
August 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Israel Wayne is supposed to be a voice of reason in the Christian homeschooling community. A homeschool graduate himself, and now a homeschool father, he travels the convention circuit and has written blog posts criticizing various patriarchal homeschool leaders. It's a pity he's unaware that he is himself one of those patriarchal homeschool leaders.Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, you’ve heard the smash pop hit, “Rude” by the group Magic!. It speaks about a young man, seeking p … [Read more...]
Christian Patriarchy on Educating Daughters
May 12, 2014 by 1 Comment
Okay, let's take a few minutes to hash out Christian Patriarchy's view towards women and education. I think this is necessary because I hear one side saying "you don't believe in educating girls" and the other side saying "no no no, we do educate our daughters, your accusations are ridiculous." So what is really going on here? I can't necessarily get at what the ordinary family on the ground is doing, but what I can get at is what the leaders of the movement say. So let's take a look, shall … [Read more...]
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