Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Of Stepford Wives

I found this book in the used book store up my street, here is an excerpt:


                    ''In the 1970s, the pro-feminist bestseller Stepford Wives turned the traditional housewife into a mindless, husband-pleasing, yes-woman who was literally heartless—because, come to find out, she was actually a robot. The message was clear: a woman who faithfully serves her family, loves pleasing her husband, and joyfully takes care of her home (from home) is not a “real person,” but a contrived fantasy of her overbearing and selfish husband. Instead of treasuring women and properly utilizing their gifts, our culture has attempted to discard the beauty and uniqueness of biblical womanhood and create an emotionally androgynous power-woman whose worth is measured only by the degree of her ambition, the shape of her body, and her money-making potential. Rather than women renouncing this affront to their dignity, amazingly, the slaves are demanding their slavery!
                    In place of the glorious picture painted for us in Scripture of the passionate keeper at home, a hollow counterfeit has emerged—a desperate image concocted and promoted by Hollywood stereotypes, magazine models, and women’s selfhelp books. The rise of the Internet has only added to the confusion. As women have gravitated to the web en masse, they have met a flood of men and women of all backgrounds and persuasions propounding conflicting notions of what it means to be a woman.
                  The cacophony of ideas and teachings that today’s Christian women must wade through as they contemplate their rightful place in God’s created order can be simply overwhelming. (...) While today’s women may be bombarded with more media streams than their counterparts of previous generations, biblical femininity has always been an unusual quality. This is what led King Lemuel’s
mother to observe, “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies” (Proverbs 31:10). Virtuous women have always been rare, and oh, how precious they are!''

Oh yes she did! I think I'm going to enjoy this book (which is by the way called Passionate Housewives Desperate for God by Stacy MacDonald).

1 comment:

  1. It's so true!! So often peoples' revulsion about housewifery is summed up by/connected with an image they carry mentally which is a MEDIA FABRICATION. Soooo true. I'd like to borrow this when you're done. ... I've read several housewifery type books but the Protestant tradition doesn't always use critical secular social sciences; an intelligent critique of media culture is a rare thing indeed in a Christian book, in my experience.

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