Patriocentricity Is Broken

I’m reasonably certain that anyone even remotely interested in reading Scarlet Letters, has heard about the recent child molestation scandal surrounding Josh Duggar. Oceans of digital ink have already been spilled over this story, asking and re-asking the same questions. Did Josh truly repent of what he did? Is Josh a danger to his children? Did the Duggar parents handle the situation wisely? – and plenty others besides these.

In the few days since this story broke, I’ve read not only the redacted police report, but also various responses to the situation, both from the pro- and anti-Duggar “camps.” And after mulling things over for a while, I think I’m ready to add my own drop or two of ink to the flood, for whatever that might be worth at this point.

So Much More, p. 95-105 – Part 2: Do You Even Lift?

“A&E” refers to Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin, authors of So Much More. I chose the abbreviation to save space and time.

In the last post, I outlined how A&E finally got around to (partially) defining the word “femininity.” Femininity, however, is only one of the terms A&E set out to define at the beginning of the chapter. The other is “strength,” which fares significantly worse than femininity in terms of specificity. However, if we read between the lines, I think we can still make an educated guess at what A&E have in mind when they talk about strength.

Pentecost – Choral varie sur le Veni Creator (Durufle)

Ascension – Thou art gone up on high

So Much More, p. 95-105 – Part 1: Pretty in Pink

“A&E” refers to Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin, authors of So Much More. I chose the abbreviation to save space and time.

Chapter 8 of So Much More is different from the preceding chapters in one important way: a good portion of it was not, in fact, written by A&E. Instead, most of it is taken up by the story of Rebekah, a self-described “former tomboy” who embraced stay-at-home daughterhood (SAHD). Rebekah’s is the most extensive SAHD practitioner testimony so far in the book, and conveys most of the actual information about what A&E think about “feminine strength.”