Tag Archives: evangelical

Michelle Duggar’s Tips For A Happy Marriage Include Being “Financially Dependent” On A Man

Jessica WakemanFebruary 17, 2012 //
Michelle Duggar marriage tips

I won’t beat around the bush: “tips for a happy marriage” from Michelle Duggar are as bad as they sound.

In the season premiere of “19 Kids and Counting” this week, the reality TV mama (whose family is stumping for Rick Santorum) is filmed at a conference on how to have a happy, evangelical Christian marriage in which the man is the authority and head of the household.

Michelle passed out tips from her lecture to the audience and a viewer screengrabbed the advice, where it was posted on Television Without Pity. Not suprisingly, you might want to “keep a barf bag handy” as Faith Goes Pop blogger Lilit Marcus puts it, because Michelle Duggar’s happy marriage tips include become financially dependent on your husband, always keeping your hair did, watch your weight, and being more “loyal” to him than your family and friends.

You can read some of the more egregious tips from “7 Basic Needs Of A Husband” — the workbook off of which Duggar was reading — after the jump:    Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: GOP Debate Asks Michele Bachmann About “Submission” To Husband

Jessica WakemanAugust 12, 2011 //

  • The GOP held a debate last night for wannabe presidential nominees and Rep. Michele Bachmann was asked about statements she has made in the past that a husband should be the head of the household and a wife should be “submissve” to him. As the moderator asked, “As president, would you submissive to your husband?” the audience booed like mad. In response, Bachmann praised her husband and said to them, “submission” means “respect.” I’m sorry, but I don’t buy that pile of BS from her. They very well may respect each other deeply, but this looks to me like she’s flip-flopping on her belief of male headship of the household in front of the cameras. What do you think? [Think Progress]
  • Sarah Palin says something sensible about the notion that if she and Michele Bachmann both ran for president there would a catfight. “It’s kind of even a sexist notion to consider that two women would be kind of duking it out,” Palin said. “If I’m gonna duke it out I’m gonna duke it out with the guys.” [Politico]
  • Feminist icon Gloria Steinem visited “The Colbert Report” last night — you should watch! [Feministing]

Keep reading »

What Is The Evangelical “Stay-At-Home Daughters Movement”?

Jessica WakemanNovember 30, 2010 //

Weeks ago, we met the evangelical housewives who submit to their husbands. Now let’s meet the evangelical “stay-at-home daughters” — young women who forgo higher education and a career to stay close to their fathers and learn how to be a good homemaker and helper before they are getting married.

Writing in Bitch Magazine, author Gina McGalliard explains how these young women claim all women are much happier submitting to a family-focused life, rather than getting their own careers and jobs. Whether the woman needs “special protection” from her husband or her father, it’s all part of the same “Christian patriarchy movement.” Keep reading »

NY Times Mag Profiles Evangelical Housewives Who Submit To Their Husbands

Jessica WakemanNovember 15, 2010 //

I am absolutely fascinated by people’s reasons for holding onto stiffly defined gender roles. For that reason, this weekend’s New York Times Magazine article, “Housewives of God,” was an absolute treat. Journalist Molly Worthen profiled Priscilla Shirer, an evangelical Bible teacher who has published numerous religious books and workbooks and accepts 20 out of 300 speaking engagements per year. She is also the mother of three young boys and depends on her husband, Jerry, to pick the kids up from school, do laundry and prepare dinner. As journalist Worthen put it, “Priscilla Shirer’s marriage appears to be just the sort of enlightened partnership that would make feminists cheer.”

But Jerry Shirer is the head of the Shirer household. All phone calls regarding Priscilla’s career and decisions — including what to name the couple’s youngest baby — go through him. Priscilla also sees herself not as a rah-rah-independent woman, but as a “complementarian”: She and her hubby both have separate, defined roles from their gender and are “complementary” to each other. Keep reading »