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click on dvd to get to the gunn brothers’ website

(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.

The latest Journal of Child Development reports that childhood obesity and a child’s Body Mass Index rose if his or her mother was a working mother.  Over the years there have been endless studies correlating dismal numbers of unhealthy, unhappy, underperforming, academically failing children to the absence of parenting in the home. Needless to say, knee-jerk reactions and immediate attacks from single working moms are mounted, once again, against us Stay-At-Home moms.  The truth is, you’ll have a greater influence on your child if you are around them throughout the day, as oppose to dropping them off at the day care center.  In my generation, before day cares were all the rage, these kids were merely "latch key kids."  (definition: A latchkey kid or latchkey child is a child who returns from school to an empty home because his or her parent or parents are away at work.)

It’s difficult to find inspiration and encouragement to be a stay-at-home mother, especially in the present economy when everyone needs to pitch in.  Mainstream media is oftentimes hostile to the concept of biblical womanhood – a life that puts husband, family, and home first.  For us, the needs of our family is the realization of the self.  Compare this to the popular notion of self-realization as one having to go out into the world to beat a man at his own game, in a man’s world. We believe that looking after our husband’s happiness and comfort, raising our children properly, and maintaining a home is realizing what John Knox calls "woman in her greatest perfection."

That said, mothers who cook at home are up against hidden dangers in fresh produce that didn’t exist 30 years ago. Hormone grafting, fish DNA grafting (for larger sized fruits and vegetables), artifical preservatives, waxed fruits, pesticides, anti-fungal fertilizers, anti-dusting agents, etc. The list goes on. These are components introduced to extend shelf-life, create more pest-resistance crops, and more attractive looking produce. 

Don’t fall for it.

If you can’t afford organic, the next best thing is to buy locally from your farmer’s market. Even though there’s no guarantee that the farmer doesn’t use genetically manufactured pesticides (you can always befriend him and ask), it’s still many unknown factors taken out of the equation. The First Lady Michelle Obama has recently gotten Walmart to commit to offering healthier foods in their stores, but what they define as “healthy” is less sodium, lower sugar content, and less or no trans fats. There is still a hidden danger in many store-bought foods. That hidden danger is called GMO. What is GMO (Genetically Manufactured Organism)? It’s ready-to-eat, packaged, processed foods. Essentially if it comes packed in a package and you can eat it immediately, it’s a GMO. Frozen dinners, pre-cooked foods, corn-based processed foods are all GMO’s

To look at a list of NON-GMO foods, click on the banner below to go to an organization that lists Non-GMO foods. Don’t forget to download the list for free, and please donate to the institute of responsible technology, if you are able.

Happy cooking and homemaking!

Quotes are difficult entities. Often taken out of context, they can be easily misconstrued as miniatures of extreme rhetoric. We looked over several books on quotations involving women and wives. Some quotations- while ridiculously misogynistic – have no reference to women at all. They could be in reference to men. (And if that were the case, why is it no longer an issue?) We have heard women’s groups complain about The Smiths’ “Bigmouth Strikes Again” as woman-hating. But the song is written by Morrissey, who retains ambiguity in his sexual preference. There’s no indication in the lyrics, furthermore, that he is referring to a woman. It could have been a male partner.

Still we at the organization love quotations for the very reason they are simple reductions that we can memorize and repeat to each other when we get together to exchange recipes and cleaning tips.

We also like to be fair. When we read some passages from one Islamic advice book that raised our eyebrows, Carolyn, my sister, went to great lengths to obtain the actual book. In this instance, Muhammad Imran’s Ideal Woman in Islam. We are not familiar with the religion, but in all fairness, the book, taken in its entirety, exhorts men to respect women, their wives, and cherish them. We think that’s a darling sentiment! Therefore, to take one or two sentences out of a 150 page book is a wee bit skewed. I’m sure people do that to our website www.stepfordwife.com / www.stepfordwives.org all the time.

You can’t control the internet, so here are our favorite quotes that we love to recite when the men are not around. Click on the link below to go to our page on our website, stepfordwife.com / stepforwives.org:

 

Our Favorite Quotes

 

Here at the Organization, we often have difficulty finding inspiration and ideas for the traditional family philosophy we espouse.  Contemporary magazines and internet websites don’t offer much along our line of thinking.  As a result, we dig through old books, magazine articles, and advice books from the past. 

Another interesting source for the idea of the conservative family and the submissive wife comes from religious text.  Although we are obviously most familiar with Christian / Protestant writings and the good book, we are always delighted to find like minds in Moslem culture, the Mormons, Judaism, and various fundamental groups.  There have been mistakes made by the FLDS (Fundamental Mormons), but some of their ideas of homemaking and the chain-of-command in a marriage (apart from the polygamy) have similarities to our beliefs. 

This is probably all the different faiths are interrelated.  The FLDS and the Mormons drew from the writings of Brigham Young and Joseph Smith.  The Qur’an have stories that parallel those of the Bible, which was a continuum of ancient Hebrew texts. 

We were surprised when people wrote in and asked if we were religious zealots.  We mention religion often because that seems to be a common wellspring of domestic order and happiness which Stepford wives revere so much.

And come to think of it, religion- all kinds – have some beautiful passages that promote happiness and joy in the family.  And for us, that’s a worthy idea to believe in!

Tags: religion, religious views, conservative marriage, traditional marriage, christian marriage, christianity, islam, mormons, FLDS, judaism

Happy 2011 to everyone and all our gentle readers!

We have been busy attending to parties, family and guests. We’d like to kick off the New Year with some happy news, but this one caught our eyes so thoroughly today that we just had to dish! The New York Times has an article (and accompanying quiz) The Happy Marriage Is the ‘Me’ Marriage that discusses how we define a "happy marriage" today. Essentially, it talks about how modern marriage partners expect a certain level of "self expansion" from their mate.  That’s a fancy euphemism for "what can you do for me?" or "What’s in it for me?"

Frankly we think it’s a sad state that reflects on how out of control the whole "Me Generation" has become.  Gone are the days of the traditional marriage, that sense of unity that flourished in the era of the nuclear family, the height of American civilization, and the Christian sense of self-sacrifice in a union.

You may joke all you want about our traditional methods of homemaking, the way we focus on raising children properly, maintaining a clean, cheery, and warm home to return to, and treating our men like kings, but what it all boils down to is this: A traditional conservative marriage has lasted for centuries, while "liberated" modern women with all their waves of feminism and copious helpings of Sex In The City has run out of steam after a mere three decades, leaving its supporters unfulfilled, empty, and angry.

Come join us for the year of 2011.  It’s never too late to turn back the clock and rediscover the joys of homemaking and attending to the head of the household!

There are so many female psychologists, organizations, and female writers who seem to come up with a new study every other week. The titles are along the lines of “If it hurts, there’s something wrong”, “Women want more in the bedroom,” “Sex: Should women be more like men?”

We at the organization all are in agreement that this sort of increasingly high-maintenance “ME” attitude among Western women is succeeding in driving our men in droves towards mail-order brides and foreign, developing-country women. That’s not acceptable, as Western Civilization and our self-absorbed, narcissistic women are quickly losing grounds to overseas girls who are experts at manipulation. We believe that our product is good, and that we are the country that created the loving, faithful, godly wife in a civilized culture. It’s a shame after all that work and years of tradition, an erosion of the family beliefs, Christian commitment and sacrifice towards the interest of selfish egotistical obsession with personal happiness will erase our customs.

Wasn’t it George Bernard Shaw who once said “Those who can have good sex do, those who can’t, get together to intellectualize, theorize, and form a movement?” We believe fetching slippers and paper, cooking delicious meals, raising a family, looking after our men and being genuinely obedient (as opposed to the complex, ulterior motives of mail-order brides from third world countries ) to them is truly the path to great sex. Sometimes you can’t think too much or write a dissertation about an activity that is based on animalistic passion, pure chemistry, and physical aggression.

If you are sitting around whining about what good sex is, we are going to guess you are doing something wrong and there’s an absence of action in your bedroom.

For the most part, we practice what we preach. We take the role of the traditional wife very seriously. We can’t say we succeed 100% of the time. Sometimes the will slips a little or tempers may get tested. It’s only human. Remember that we come from a broad range of backgrounds and this site is simply a place for us to share our notes on our notion of the perfect housewife with you. Think in terms of Haute Couture (high fashion in French). You know, all those models you see parading next season’s in look on the runway.

Most of us understand that only a handful of wives married to Arabic oil sheikhs are going to be able to shelf out 6 thousands dollars for a dress (all the time while denouncing the West as “shaitan” of course). For the rest of us, we wait until that design trickles down to Prèt-à-porté (Ready To Wear in French) at the department store where we can easily purchase and alter according to our body types. So it is with our Stepford Wives Organization website: we share our outlines with you, the sewing pattern to assemble the perfect housewife. You may not be able to make the perfect cut, but you’ll have the destination points marked out.

Feminism and the Woman’s Rights Movement have inadvertently made our jobs much easier. (Thanks sisters!) The liberated woman today has become so coarse, brusque, insulting, and unyielding to her guys, we’ve noticed that even the slightest trace of feminine acquiescence to our men, the slightest hint of “giving way” and yielding to men, whether it be decision-making, an absence of sarcasm, a cheery concession to whip up a nice little warm meal, any tiny way to say “thank you. I appreciate you.” – evokes a surprising level of gratitude in our stronger half. Feminism and today’s women may have trained men to expect so little from us, but it’s also soften many men into hollow semblances of what we once knew them to be. For those women who complain that men aren’t what they used to be, they only have to look in the mirror to discover the cause. We find that if we hold up our part in the traditional role – in whatever amount we can manage – it slowly awakens in our men to ascend back to the role they once took charge of so well.

The rest of our FAQ can be found here: Frequently Asked Questions of The Stepford Wives Organization