WTF: "The Patriarchy Movement"

An evangelical feminism tries to roll back the clock and inject a little biblical womanhood into our lives.

Published January 26, 2009 10:18PM (EST)

Remove thy shoes and get thee to the kitchen! According to Alternet, there's a burgeoning "patriarchy movement" that urges women to reclaim (or, rather, submit to) traditional gender roles as described in the Bible. But this isn't some wackadoo males-only organization; the movement is led and supported by women who consider themselves to be "a revolutionary body waging 'countercultural' rebellion against what they see as the feminist status quo."

So far, only 3,000 names have been signed to the "True Women" manifesto. (Hmm, "True Woman." Is that anything like "Real American"?) But they're hoping to get 100,000 women to pledge their faith to a life of "biblical femininity."

According to the manifesto, a True Woman is called to "affirm and encourage men as they seek to express godly masculinity" and responds "humbly to male leadership" demonstrating "noble submission to authority." Still hesitant to sign your name? How about the belief that "Selfish insistence on personal rights is contrary to the spirit of Christ." If that sounds like a page out of pre-feminist history, that's the point.

Only a month before hordes of people gathered in Grant Park to celebrate President Obama's election victory, Mary Kassian, author of the corrective text "The Feminist Mistake," spoke to a more modest crowd of 6,000 in Chicago at the inaugural "True Woman Conference." Also making an appearance was Christian radio host Nancy Leigh DeMoss who, according to Alternet, argued that feminism was much like the old Virginia Slims ads, "appealing to women’s desire for independence, but selling a dangerous product." Lest those True Women lose their way without that humble male leadership, theologian John Piper took the stage. Proclaiming the power of submission, Piper told the audience, "A woman on her knees sways more in this nation than a thousand three-piece-suited Wall Street jerks." I'll assume that wasn't a blow job reference.


By Katie Rolnick

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