I was minding my own business looking around at who had posted for Pink Saturday when I came across a site written by a 30 year old woman with 7 kids. You’d think by now that I would know better than to start clicking links on a site like that but I was hoping that the kids were adopted or foster kids to reaffirm my faith in humanity. Instead I got sent to Raising Homemakers. Dear God.
The goals of the site are to teach people to raise their daughters to do the following:
1. Learning to love their future husbands
2. Learning to love their future children
3. To be self-controlled
4. To be pure
5. To be keepers at home
6. To be kind
7. Learning to be subject to their future husbands so the word of God will not be maligned
Notice that they don’t want to teach them to be self-supporting. Why do that? Men will always be around to support them. They won’t run off with another woman or die or do anything unChristian like that. They won’t turn out to be alcoholics who squander the family finances. I have friends who believe that the man must handle the finances to be truly Christian. This continues even though the man has repeatedly spent all the money on himself instead of paying the bills.
Who contributes to this site?
“Older, wiser, Titus 2 women with many children, some grown
Younger women with little ones all about
Young married women with no children (yet!) and…
Stay-at-home daughters”
I explained the term “stay-at-home daughters” to the SO. He is going to pick out a husband for Z now so he doesn’t have to support her forever. He asked if there was a promise that the husband wasn’t going to run off and have Z move back in with us with her 7 kids when she’s 30. I said no. He said that we should move as soon as we marry her off so she can’t find us.
Raising Homemakers lead me to LAF/Beautiful Womanhood. That URL is ladiesagainstfeminism to give you a hint of the worldview of this site. One of the first posts I read was from a stay at home daughter.
“Lately, I have been convicted of a truth that I have long denied:
I am sheltered.
I know what you might be thinking. As a homeschool graduate, as an adult daughter living at home, as a Christian, this is a claim that I have been taught to deny. I do not live in a comfortably insulated bubble. I am not just a privileged princess who has never had to endure hardship. I am not young and idealistic!
But the fact of the matter is, I really am all of those things.”
No kidding. She then proceeds to try to make a point but I can’t follow it. I read it out loud to the SO. He couldn’t follow it either. Something about how biblical womanhood is for everyone even if it is hard to be a stay at home mom when you are single or something. The comments supported the idea that “sheltering is good.” You shouldn’t expose your kids to life.
But then I read the post that put me right over the edge. It was a rant about the phrase Well Behaved Woman Rarely Make History. The point of it was that of course well behaved women make history. They raise children who make make history. I assume that is male children who are allowed to make history. The comments were even crazier.
From Diane:
“Are you kidding? What else is this country founded on if not well-behaved women who raised well-behaved men of integrity? And who are the most historically known women if not women of the bible who were well-behaved and walked the straight and narrow road (Ester, Ruth Sara)”
Um, this country was founded by well behaved men who advocated the overthrow of the previous government while eradicating the Native Americans and enslaving Africans?
Ester – A Jew who married a non-Jewish king (shameful to marry outside the religion) and then used sex to convince her husband to kill high government officials before they led a massacre?
Ruth – A widow who lay down in front of the richest local dude she could find in order to get him to take care of her?
Sarah – When she thought she was infertile she told her husband to sleep with her slave but then after Sarah had a kid she exiled the slave and her child into the desert in hopes that they’d die?
I guess what we learn here is to use sex as a weapon to get what you want. That is probably all these women had since they weren’t developing their minds.
Another commenter brought up the Virgin Mary as a well behaved woman. Yep, unmarried teenage mother who child grew up to tear apart the temple. How many of these woman would like to have these people in their church now? How many would consider them well behaved if they saw it happening now?
I couldn’t handle it anymore. I had to comment on that post. Bring on the hate mail. But of course the comments are moderated and you have to have a log on to comment. Wouldn’t want dissent I guess. Sheltering is good.
Ugh, seriously? Your SO’s comment about moving so Z wouldn’t be able to find the two of you made me laugh. At 4 dd wants to be, see, do everything, and live at home forever. We’re counting on her outgrowing the last part.
.-= Elizabeth´s last blog ..Blogger’s Spring Festival 2010 =-.
Don’t go looking for the ‘quiverful’ sites. They are just as bad. I’m sorry I can’t follow any of your links, my blood pressure is already high enough.
Reminds me of the LDS child I taught who told me I wasn’t fulfilling God’s command because I didn’t have any children. She then proceded to tell me that her sister was my age and had 5 children. She didn’t like the response that her sister had never been to university or lived independently…
.-= Ruth´s last blog ..Last post about my holiday, I promise =-.
Hi Heather,
I always enjoy reading your posts — love your sense of humor and insight — and this one really had me going! I’d better not click on that link, I’d be sure to offend someone 🙂
Jeanne, one of the non-humble, non-passive, unruly ones …
It’s a really good thing I don’t read sites like that. Gee, I guess I was just really off with the whole devoting my life to science and finding cures for disease thing, all done while still having a husband and hobbies outside the home (where – eeek! – I might be exposed to something. I’m sure I’d be on their shit list anyway for not having children. *shudder*
.-= Molly´s last blog ..Final Post-Camp Thoughts =-.
Oh my goodness — hard to imagine.
.-= Angela´s last blog ..Little Projects =-.