I have to disagree with you here because there is a big difference between being a stay at home mom/wife and being a surrendered wife. A surrendered wife may also be a stay at home mom/wife, but she buys into a theology that puts her second to her husband in authority. She may not have to face job reviews, layoffs, or annual reviews from an outside employer. Instead, the surrendered wife has to raise her children, keep her house clean, and act submissive the way her husband wants her to, and HE gets all the credit. The surrendered wife may not get laid off from being a mom, but she doesn’t get a lot of breaks either. And if she does her work well, she gets her husband’s approval and heaven’s rewards. If she screws up, she’s a bad wife and mother and hellfire awaits. OTOH, being a SAHM doesn’t automatically make a woman believe that she is inferior to her husband, or that she can’t be in an egalitarian relationship with her husband. Unfortuantely, my sister-in-law doesn’t recognize that the reason she gets a lot of free time, or gets to make decisions concerning kids and their financial situation as a SAHM and wife is because she has a supportive husband who does his share of the housework/childcare without holding his role as breadwinner over her head as some kind of lord of the manor. Ironically, she wants to force him into this role because of some stupid religious theology. Her life as a SAHM and wife won’t be as pleasant than. And I know plenty of SAHM/wives who are very active feminists.

As the owner of a ranchette in the wilderness, I can tell you that it doesn’t really mitigate the necessity of concessions to the patriarchy. You know what would, though?

FEMINIST REVOLT!

Also time to reflect that it’s probably kind of healthy that most people have trouble remembering the date.

Also props to Hedgepig for creating the opportuntiy to use the phrase “veritable cavalcade”.

Well, we all live within a capitalist system, which is inherently oppressive, and as a function of that oppression we all need to do things that aren’t always PC to get by.

Until we can all buy our own ranches in the wilderness, concessions to the patriarchy are inevitable. She wears heels, you do housework, I don’t eat cake for breakfast every day to save up Conventionally Attractiveness points (I’m hoping to save up enough to offset the personality – then I will be unstoppable.)

The most important thing is not to fool yourself into thinking you’re doing it all for your empowerful, fun self.

Just out of curiosity, how many kangaroo-harassers do we have here? There seems to be quite a few of us.

Amen, sister.

If you are unlucky enough to get the husband with the pot of boiling water, you get to become bonding gossip for the in crowd. Without all of these lovely dysfunctional relationships to gossip about, fewer of these people would actually attend church.

It’s also freeing for people to believe that bad things only happen in the world because there are evil, or at least bad people (who aren’t them). Instead of the truth, which is that we are all monkeys, capable of doing really horrible things. Heck, around 80 percent of us will torture if told to by an authority figure. And nature doesn’t really give a damn how holy you are, though it may have a response to your carbon output.