Never a Helpmeet Part 5: The New Misogynists

So “Good Christian men” get the message that they are expected to be dominant over women. And rapists and hate-filled trolls and potential mass murderers get the exact same message.

A Quiverfull of Definitions

Attempts to describe this constellation of groups as “quiverfull” run into serious definitional problems.

My Father, An Enigma

“When I was in college and things started going haywire, he very clearly expected me to obey him, and very clearly believed that he was my male authority and that I was bound by God to submit to him. But was this perhaps simply the way he responded in his fear of losing me? How deeply did he actually hold those ideas?”

Then Why Didn’t You Tell Us That, Mom?

“Once homeschool parents enter the Christian homeschool subculture, if they don’t vocally and openly condemn, question, or contradict what that subculture teaches, their children will assume that the ideas and ideals of that subculture are approved—something they should listen to, take seriously, and imbibe. I’ve talked to more than my fair share of homeschool graduates who grew up in this culture and took to heart things they later found out their parents never even realized they were learning.”

His Quiver Full of Them: Jeri Lofland’s Thoughts

“These days, stories of ex-Quiverfull moms and their ‘quivering daughters’ are multiplying on the Internet like rabbits in the spring. The fruit of the movement has not turned out to be sweet; we deal with health problems, poverty, anxiety, depression, PTSD, eating disorders, cutting, sexual abuse, emotional incest, and divorce.”