privilege she should not abuse—she must accept his final answer as
“God’s will for her at that time,” Peace advises. The godly wife must
also suppress selfish desires (for romance, a career, an equitable
marriage), practice addressing her spouse in soothing tones, and
maintain a private log of bitter thoughts to guide her repentance. “If
you disobey your husband,” Peace admonishes inThe Excellent Wife, “you are indirectly shaking your fist at God.”
The popularity of her audiotapes and books, translated into several
languages and used as curriculum by Christian women’s groups, has made
Peace a celebrity in fundamentalist circles, with appearances at
conferences and Bible meetings throughout the world. But she’s just one
among hundreds of professional Titus 2 mentors, older women who help
younger ones—as outlined by Apostle Paul in Titus 2:5—”to be
self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be
subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”
A couple quick things. First, this reminds me less of faith or even religion than it does fucking Pampered Chef. A whole cottage industry, Ms. Martha Peace has here, taking women’s subjugation and guilt and selling it back to them all packaged up in a bow, while their female friends look on approvingly and talk about recipes. Yes, you need that vegetable chopper, and the audiotapes that tell you how to best fulfill God’s plan while still giving your husband oral whenever he wants it. Sign on the dotted line. Host a house party yourself one day!
(Then again, I’m a girl who gets most of her deep thoughts these days from a show about hot space chicks, what the fuck do I know?)
(I also have a kickass chef’s knife from Pampered Chef, just in the interests of full disclosure here. Cuts peppers like a motherfucker.)
Second, I would at some point like somebody to ask one of these women who makes a gazillion dollars preaching submission and helplessness to other women to please kind of explain the fucktardedness inherent in her scenario. I’m supposed to give her my money so she can teach me to be a helpmeet and comfort to Mr. A (who would likely be confused and frightened by this turn of events) and then she gets to climb back on the plane while I rub his feet and cook for him every night instead of most? I know critical thought is one of those feminist tendencies she ought to be able to help me overcome, but only after she answers the damn question already.
Which she seems to think she is, here:
Peace reassures audiences that she ministers only to women, and only
under her pastor’s supervision. Indeed, the Titus 2 movement finds its
most prominent voices in the Kentucky-based Council on Biblical Manhood
and Womanhood and a roster of conservative male theologians that
includes John Piper, founder of Desiring God Ministries; John
MacArthur, megachurch pastor of Grace Community Church; Albert Mohler,
president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; and Bruce Ware,
president of the Evangelical Theological Society, who caused a public
stir last June when he told a Texas audience that domestic violence
often stems from women’s lack of submission.
Last I checked ain’t any of those hoary old creeps your husband, girl, so … no.
A.