Oh yes, Libby, you are such a wild woman\u2013marrying your first boyfriend young and having children and all. Seriously, those fleshly lusts are driving you straight to destruction.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The truth is, I\u2019m not much of a rebel by most people\u2019s standards. Not a rebel at all, actually. I don\u2019t have piercings and I dress normally. I\u2019ve never smoked, never been drunk, never broken the law. Like Petticoat Philosopher says, I married young and my husband and I now have two children while still in our twenties. The life we live is really very typical. We go to work, we come home and go swimming with the kids. For hobbies, we garden, sew, and bike. By any standard but my parents\u2019, I majorly fail at being a rebel. And sometimes I really want to remind my mom that while she may disapprove of how I lead my life, it could be worse<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Petticoat Philosopher\u2019s comment reminded me of a (satirical) letter I composed in my head back when I was an undergrad and the conflict between my parents and I over things like creationism and paternal authority were in full force. It went something like this:<\/p>\n
Dear Mom,<\/p>\n
I\u2019m writing from jail. I got caught trying to break into a house because, well, I was short on cash. See, I lost my scholarship because my grades dropped, and now I\u2019m in the process of being expelled because I got caught plagiarizing. I\u2019ve been making some money writing papers for some frat kids, but not enough. Anyway, I need you to bail me out. Oh, and it would be dandy if you could help with some of my credit card debt too \u2013 some of it has gone to a collections agency.<\/p>\n
Just kidding. None of that is true. I\u2019m still a straight A student and haven\u2019t gotten so much as a parking ticket. But the truth is, I believe in female equality and see myself as equal and independent, and I have questions about the religious beliefs you and dad taught us growing up and am exploring other traditions and ideas. That\u2019s all.<\/p>\n
Your loving daughter,<\/p>\n
Libby<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Somehow, composing that in my head, back when things were really not going well between me and my mom, was really cathartic \u2013 even though I never wrote it down or sent it.<\/p>\n
Have you ever done something like this?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Longtime reader Petticoat Philosopher just left the following comment on my post about brainwashing and fleshly lusts: Oh yes, Libby, you are such a wild woman\u2013marrying your first boyfriend young and having children and all. Seriously, those fleshly lusts are driving you straight to destruction. The truth is, I\u2019m not much of a rebel by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evangelicalism-fundamentalism","category-family"],"yoast_head":"\n
Dear Mom: It Could Be Worse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Longtime reader Petticoat Philosopher just left the following comment on my post about brainwashing and fleshly lusts: Oh yes, Libby, you are such a wild\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dear Mom: It Could Be Worse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Longtime reader Petticoat Philosopher just left the following comment on my post about brainwashing and fleshly lusts: Oh yes, Libby, you are such a wild\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love, Joy, Feminism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-27T09:45:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-10-04T16:30:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html\",\"name\":\"Dear Mom: It Could Be Worse\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-27T09:45:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-10-04T16:30:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\"},\"description\":\"Longtime reader Petticoat Philosopher just left the following comment on my post about brainwashing and fleshly lusts: Oh yes, Libby, you are such a wild\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dear Mom: It Could Be Worse\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/\",\"name\":\"Love, Joy, Feminism\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\",\"name\":\"Libby Anne\",\"description\":\"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \\\"purity culture,\\\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dear Mom: It Could Be Worse","description":"Longtime reader Petticoat Philosopher just left the following comment on my post about brainwashing and fleshly lusts: Oh yes, Libby, you are such a wild","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dear Mom: It Could Be Worse","og_description":"Longtime reader Petticoat Philosopher just left the following comment on my post about brainwashing and fleshly lusts: Oh yes, Libby, you are such a wild","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html","og_site_name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","article_published_time":"2012-07-27T09:45:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-10-04T16:30:18+00:00","author":"Libby Anne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Libby Anne","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html","name":"Dear Mom: It Could Be Worse","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-07-27T09:45:51+00:00","dateModified":"2012-10-04T16:30:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2"},"description":"Longtime reader Petticoat Philosopher just left the following comment on my post about brainwashing and fleshly lusts: Oh yes, Libby, you are such a wild","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/07\/dear-mom-it-could-be-worse.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dear Mom: It Could Be Worse"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/","name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2","name":"Libby Anne","description":"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \"purity culture,\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/845"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6349\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}