Someone’s Got to Be Responsible for Her!

May 31, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Independent-woman1

You all know I had a bit of a rocky time with my parents upon reaching adulthood. Well, I recently learned something I had not known that occurred during that period, and it surprised even me. I think I need to give a little backstory to make what I'm about to say make sense. I've told this in pieces, so let me sum it up. Upon completion of homeschool high school, I went away to college. I chose a secular college, with my parents' approval, because I wanted to finally win converts for Christ … [Read more...]

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Christian Patriarchy on Educating Daughters

May 12, 2014 By 1 Comment
CoverFourGenerations

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...]

Filed Under: Homeschool, Patriarchy Tagged With: , 1 Comment

Matthew Chapman, Child Marriage, and Homeschooling

December 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Matthew Chapman

Yesterday I wrote about my concerns about child marriage in the Christian homeschooling world. In particular, I wrote about the Maranatha story, and included a mention of the marriage of Maranatha's daughter Lauren at age 16 to a man ten years her senior. I included a wedding picture from Lauren's wedding in the post, in order to make what I was talking about real. Blogger Lana of Wide Open Ground, who knew Lauren's family growing up, expressed concern at my use of that picture, saying that … [Read more...]

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My Father, an Enigma

November 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment
engineer

"Libby, you could be an engineer. You have the mind for it." My dad made this comment while we were in the car, driving by a factory of some sort. I was probably around sixteen. My dad's comment was completely offhand, and I didn't bother to respond. Inside, though, I was baffled. Why would my dad suggest such a thing? Didn't he realize that my lot in life, the lot God had designed for me, was to be a homemaker, raising children, caring for my husband, and tending the home? Couldn't he see … [Read more...]

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How Doug Phillips Wreaked Havoc on My Family

November 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Adolescent Girl with Head in Hands

My parents homeschooled me K-12, and during those years they fell under the influence of several Christian leaders who spread toxic dogma and find their following within the Christian homeschool movement. My parents never followed Gothard, but they did follow both Michael Pearl and Doug Phillips. I've talked a lot about how their devotion to Michael Pearl taught them to think that if they raised me "right" they could ensure that I stayed on the straight and narrow, copying my parents in my … [Read more...]

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College Was To Be My Dowry

September 24, 2013 By 196 Comments
College-Girl

My dad told me he was going to pay for my college education as a dowry for my future husband. He said it would be wrong to settle my future husband with debt wracked up for my education when I was going to be a stay at home mom and would never work outside of the home anyway. This is what came to mind when I read the recent viral post Six Reasons Not To Send Your Daughter To College. If I was only ever supposed to be a stay at home mom, you may be wondering, why did my parents bother to send … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Patriarchy, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , 196 Comments

Under Her Father’s Authority

August 4, 2013 By 194 Comments
father daughter

In many ways, my upbringing and background isn't that weird. Yes, I had twice as many siblings as most people have cousins, but in general my upbringing was very normal---for the evangelical subculture, that is. But when I tell people about my background, the thing that always trips them up is the part about unmarried adult daughters being under their fathers' authority, to the point of requiring complete submission and obedience. This is . . . weird, even for the evangelical world. But in the … [Read more...]

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