We dearly missed the days when women were dressed pretty and modestly, and stayed at home to raise a family. Fortunately, paintings from the past allow us to hark back to those wistful days when women were truly women: quiet, modest, genteel, and happily acquiescent to men.

You can look at more of his paintings here at the ArtMagick Website

First things first: A Happy Thanksgiving to all the families and readers out there! We all hope you are having a fantastic holiday, spending quality time with your loved ones. We girls see it as a time to spoil our husbands extra deluxe in front of his and our families.

This is just a note to inform all our gentle readers that we have not gone away. We have been mum for a while, but we have also been busy reading up on many interesting topics in between cleaning, cooking, sewing, and taking care of the men around the house (extra guys visiting for the holidays).

For the girls, we stumbled upon this curious website that’s an introductory course to the FLDS way of life. (Every time we mentioned the FLDS, we make sure our readers know we are in no way affiliated with that religious group. We do not condone most (if not ALL) of the behavior of their imprisoned leader. But we do love our authoress Helen B. Andelin (who wrote Fascinating Womanhood), and was herself an LDS Mormon. This page, entitled “Role of Women” from FLDS 101 mentions Andelin’s book to our great delight.

For men – who often write to thank us for setting up our website and blog online – we found an acronym we are not familiar with MGTOW. If you never heard of it, check out this website: Men For Justice

We girls at the organization are not devout or deeply religious, but we are involved in our local Protestant church whenever there are functions, events, bake-offs, or charitable work for the less fortunate. We do get inspiration from the good book and the events that are described in the Bible. (In fact, some of our favorite passages come from 1 Peter and Ephesians 5:22 – 5:24) You can look at some of our favorite quotes here at our official website.

Our greatest model for femininity begins with Eve. We believe that the symbolical meaning of woman being created from man’s rib is the foundation of the Stepford edict: Eve was created solely to be a helper to Adam, to keep him company so he would not be alone.

That Eve was seduced by the serpent to take that first bite, thus banishing both man and woman from the garden of Eden meant the weight of sin is on the woman’s shoulders. We were taught by the Stepford Men’s Organization that a deep sense of shame and contrition should be our identity as faithful wives to our husbands. Marriage is our second chance to do right by our men. Where Eve faltered, we will succeed.

One of our trademarks as girls of the Stepford Wives Organization is that we all have long hair. We also drew inspiration from the story of Simon of Pharisees inviting Jesus to dinner.

A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. Luke 7:36-7:38 NIV

It’s not often that our husbands request us to wash their feet with our hair, but the symbolic gesture of having a lengthy mane to fulfill our lord’s wishes has always been greatly appreciated. After all, we took the first bite from that apple. As women, we have figuratively lived sinful lives. Cherishing the Stepford way of pleasing our men, being a helpmeet and attentive wives to them is our way of seeking redemption.

When we read the papers and surf the internet, it’s quite common to come across an article like this one Are Moms with Careers More Depressed Than Stay-at-Homes? – every day or so – that supports and reassures working moms that it’s okay to not have it all. Funded research studies and correlative reports also focuses more on the career woman. “It’s okay to not have it all and be able to do everything at home.” However, we seldom see articles that laud that stay-at-home mother.

It would be nice to see articles on lifestyle websites that say “It’s okay to not to rule the world and micromanage men and women in the business world!” That’s probably not going to happen soon. If you look at the authors of these articles, most of the time, they are women who are out in the business world making a living. So of course, they are going to sympathize with muscling one’s way through the corporate world while their children sit among strangers in a childcare center, only to come home to cold tv dinners.

That’s one of the reasons we decided to put the Stepford Wives Organization on the map. Just a place on the world wide web that doesn’t talk about superficial qualities like fashion and fetish aspects of a Stepford Wife. (We are aware there are many blogs are internet sites that append the Stepford Wife name for assimilation reasons). It’s at least a place we can show support for the Stay-At-Home Wife and the Stay-At-Home Mom.

We notice that along with the retro-fascination with Stepford Wives and the 1950′s housewife- which occurs every few years, and especially this time around with the Mad Men craze – there is a tendency to fetishize the outward trappings of our way of life. Easily accessible to all are the retro-style clothing and vintage accessories culled from Ebay.

But outward trappings is just that. You can’t put a fierce, brusque, modern, liberated woman in a polka dot dress and apron for a day and expect her to become the conservative, family-first, husband-first housewife overnight. In a still-frame of a digital camera, it may come off convincingly, but that’s just a fraction of a second. A “fetish,” to us, is a half-cooked casserole of confused ideas, jokey irony, and noncommittal sarcasm. We do this year round, every day, every minute. So a costume change is nothing but a sleight-of-hand.

How does one take the next step to a more authentic Stepford existence? We think it should be all-encompassing. Stepford fetishist see us as nothing but spotless, spic-and-span ladies of the domestic realm, but there’s also hours of cooking, cleaning, attending to our husbands, sewing, more cleaning, pleasing our husbands, listening to our husbands, flattering our husbands, grooming the kids, gardening, cleaning behind that one picture perfect shot.

If you can’t get your hands dirty, you are not Stepford-ready.

Speaking of hands, we believe that posture speaks volumes about raising the Stepford consciousness. Women in past decades were taught to stand with both hands clasped or connected. Much akin to standing with your legs crossed, it conveyed the message of meek reservation and submissiveness. If you look at many of the movies and media images between the 50s and the early 70s, women stood with their hands connected when speaking to a man or in public. It conveyed a certain level of purity and guardedness as well. Here is an example of what we mean. If you dressed and look the part of a Stepford Wife, but stand with legs wide apart and arms akimbo, you are ready for confrontation and disagreement: you are nowhere near the mindset of a true Stepford Wife.

Standing with your hands touching is a gesture of indecisiveness. Ready to carry out instructions from our husbands with a cheery obeisance that is the cornerstone at Stepford.

For some reason or another, we get many ad banners on our site that target the promotion of the aforementioned commodity. We immediately ban the banners whenever we become aware of it (The reason we pick for blocking the ad? “Low Quality.”) We have stated time and again: The Stepford Wives Organization does NOT support, condone, or encourage Mail Order Brides in any way, shape, or manner.

We believe it is a bad idea to go abroad in search of a brand of traditional Christian femininity when you can find the genuine article homegrown and raised right here. In fact, the very concept of the mail order bride began in the United States, when westward-settling frontier pioneers in the late 19th century sought companionship from the more established Eastern seaboard.

above: Chris Enss’s book Hearts West: Stories of Mail Order Brides from the Frontier

If you are a man, the first and most important question you have to ask yourself is this: Why is she leaving her home / country? If a woman is comfortably situated in an established, respectable family – of ANY ethnicity, she won’t give up THAT comfort to go to a strange land and hook up with a man she’s never met. The fact that most- if not all- of these MOB’s accept the terms and husbands almost unconditionally tells you they are not leaving much behind. And that begs the next question: what kind of quality and breeding are you really getting? If it doesn’t matter to you, then the unavoidable question arises: what standards do you have as a man?

above: tweaked by Nickleus

Let’s face it. In the real world, women don’t settle for just any man. Every woman, and every man is looking for something. To assume that a woman from a foreign developing country – steeped in ambition and predatory cunningness- is so naive that she’ll take any man…is, in itself, a naive mindset. So what does that make you? A stepping stone.

We know. Most men we have heard from are “tired of how spoiled American women are.” (hint: you are looking in the wrong place, and you are going after the wrong people”) However, people who arrive in the U.S. have to assimilate by compressing an entire lifetime of culture, behavior, tradition, manners, and attitudes into a few years. It’s almost impossible to do that effectively. So what’s the next best substitute? Superficial assimilation by way of material consumption. So now, not only do you have a person coveting what American women do, but they are overcompensating for their foreign-ness by way of material superconsumption. Remember: if they had that much from where they were, they wouldn’t have left their comfort zone in the first place.

You’re 10K in the hole, stuck with a woman- for now – who speaks broken English and demands increasingly more material riches. And once she’s obtained the language skills….she’ll be out looking for the man all the other spoiled American women desire. Don’t act surprised: you stepped in to a predatory environment. People who play with fire shouldn’t flinch when they get burned.

How do we know so much about this? It’s usually a relative’s friend or some friend’s relative. We’ve heard one Russian mail order bride who led her husband to alcoholism. He then met – mysteriously- with a fatal auto accident. She inherited his pension and social security, and has moved on to the next man (our friend’s friend). Now he has developed a drinking problem, which, along with her prodding and instigation, has caused him to push his family ties to the limit, eventually severing them.

Make no mistake: Mail Order Brides rarely work. You want the genuine Stepford Wife, keep your relationships in the U.S. Buy American!

(review by Carolyn S.)

This nifty 51 minute dvd is a great introduction to pro-family, conservative, and biblical-based views on ideas that range from stay-at-home mothers, day care centers, planned parenthood, feminism, biblical submission of women to men, to modesty in dress.

The Monstrous Regiment is star-studded with conservative voices such as Phyllis Schlafly (Feminist Fantasies), F. Carolyn Graglia (“Domestic Tranquility: A Brief Against Feminism”), Stacy McDonald (“Raising Maidens of Virtue: A Study of Feminine Loveliness for Mothers and Daughters”) and historian Rosalind K. Marshall.

The program begins with an explanation of 16th century reformer John Knox’s tract (from which this film was named after) The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. This piece of work was written at the time Knox railed against the matriarchal rule of Mary I of England, Mary of Guise, and Mary Queen of Scots. You can read it here.

Then we are off to a feminist book store event, where Gretchen Ritter’s definition of a feminist is utilized to show how the concept of egalitarianism (equality for all) is the polar opposite of Christianity (authority based on hierarchy). This is one of the most succinct explanations I have come across on the divide between the two groups.

Our heroine (the bane of feminists worldwide) Phyllis Schlafly is introduced next. If you don’t have the time to read her half dozen or so books, here is a perfect encapsulation of her lifelong work. (Feminism as victimization culture, devaluation of the homemaker, devaluation of marriage). F. Carolyn Graglia comes on board next to explain how the push for day care centers, and subsidization of anti-family policies have wrangled power from the head of the household, and redistribute the resources from traditional families to “modern” configurations.

A section focuses on women in the Army, and the “gender norming” that is needed to adjust women’s physical abilities against those of men’s. This is another step that works to mobilize women away from scriptural-ordained feminine roles, and feminine behavior. The topic of ab*rtion is next, with a harrowing look at Planned Parenthood’s ulterior motives of profit. Carol Everett, former clinic owner and founder of the Heidi Group speaks explains. Light is also shed on pro-eugenics, racist background of Planned Parenthood’s founder Margaret Sanger.

When the gestation period of a fetus is discussed, the controversial part of this film arrives. Footage is shown of one, possibly two ab*rted babies. Viewers with a weak stomach should not watch. Homemaker Dana Feliciano provides a particularly moving and emotional personal account.

Modesty in dressing and the precocious socialization of young girls closes out the program, before a plea is made to women to give up thoughts return to their homes, raise their children, and submit/support their husbands. A poignant call to ignore the negative misandric representations of men as buffoons. The film concludes with a venerations of women as mothers and wives. All sensible ideas in the Stepford mindset.

We found this dvd to be of the perfect length and none too self-indulgent in its pace. It’s a great starter companion to whet your appetite in learning about some of the great names, and to know that you’re not alone as a homemaker. All too often, we feel the media is inundated with the constant romanticizing of the ambitious, masculine modern woman; there’s next to no representation of the traditional wife and homemaker. Even if there were, those portrayals are often tainted with ironic readings with dark twisted sides to the characters. So let the light in, and try this film on for a refreshing change!

The DVD also features a 24 minute of extended, uncut monologues from which the film culls from. Highlights include F. Carolyn Graglia’s views on the evolution of the National Organization of Women (NOW) and one of the most under-appreciated voice of reason, Phyllis Schlafly.

Though we have mentioned in past entries that there isn’t a particular dress code to the Stepford housewife, we girls do cherish certain styles and symbols in our daily outfits. We start with a simple theme: "Daddy’s little girl." And we build from there.

"Daddy’s little girl" brings us back to the time of our childhood, when we are seen as unmarried little girls who were well-behaved and obedient to the male heads of our households. It also reminds us to remain pure and true to our calling as wives. As being less learned and knowledgeable as our husbands, dressing with little girl motifs also displays to our husbands that we are wives playing house in our little homes, taking care of our men. It’s a gentle reminder for them to talk simply to us when explaining the complicated matters in their world.

While wearing ribbons, bows, ruffles, and lace (only one or two at a time please and not altogether at once!) enhances our delicate side, it also establishes an appearance that takes constant work and maintenance to upkeep. These are things that show our men that we make that extra effort to appear decorative while pleasing them at all times. And they sure do appreciate that!

We sometimes get asked whether our website is a joke. It isn’t. That reply is usually met with an declaration. “Well nobody in their right mind would have the same values as you gals!” Finally, we have come across a book that expounds on many of the “good things” we teach.

Please remember we never tell our men how to behave. We are merely share information with other wives, and try to mentor other less experienced women in our Stepford ways. Scott T. Brown, an elder at Hope Baptist Church in North Carolina has penned a short 85 page booklet that expands on the 12 pillars (“teachings”) of Biblical vision of Womanhood.

What are the 12 pillars? They include a call to celebrate the beauty and joys of woman as the image bearer of gentle and quiet spirits, kind meek hearts that follow the lead of the husband as ordained by the scripture. Women nurture their inner radiance and beauty as a quality that will age well with time. Whether our daughters are naturally gifted or they have acquired a natural passion towards being corporate executives, lawyers, politicians or professionals, they should be taught to renounce all these callings, and instead, answer only to their biblical fulfillment: stay at home, be a submissive and trustful helpmeet to her husband, and multiply greatly. Be a fruitful bearer of the godly seed. What we love about this book is that it speaks in the plain language that we can understand: “make lots of babies” to fill up the churches.

Pillar 2, warns against blurring androgyny lines. Something we closely adhere to when we steer clear of the “women” online who approach us about our organization.

Other pillars include the importance of being a domestic entrepreneur, a teacher of the next generation, a keeper of the home, and a member of the church. The book closes with a short word to fathers on the misleading term “liberation,” and a closing epilogue from the author’s wife.

The writing is short and clear. Unlike Christian books that quote the bible within the page, this book gives you the chapter-verse numbers that you can look up in your own bible. Besides, all us Stepford ladies have already committed these lines to memory. We know them by our hearts! While it is written primarily for daughters and young teen girls, we like the fact that the book is easy to read and comprehend. (I always leave the difficult reading to my sister Carolyn.) Besides, who has the time to read a tome?

We’re just glad we have some back up and support from Mr. Brown’s excellent book. Click on the following link to bring you to The National Center for Family-Integrated Church’s bookstore.