Welcome to Scarlet Letters. The purpose of this blog is to explore the problems of the Christian homeschooling subculture (where I was raised); the Christian patriarchy movement; and women’s and gender issues within Christianity. It may, however, digress occasionally into other topics that interest me and (usually) relate to my main concerns.
Comment policy
NOTE: This comment policy is a work in progress and will probably be modified in the future as I continue to navigate this area.
Feedback and discussion are always appreciated, so please feel free to comment. All comments are moderated. In general, I do not block negative or contrary comments and am willing to engage in a discussion/debate. There are, however, a few important exceptions, as follows:
1. If I already know you to be a troll from other blogs, you will be blocked.
2. If you behave like/transform into a troll on this blog, you will first be put in “time out,” allowed to return at my discretion, then blocked permanently if behavior does not improve.
3. If you (favorably) post any comment or link to any page supporting, encouraging or advocating criminal activity or hate speech (white supremacism, anti-Semitism, etc.), your comment/link will be taken down and an explanation posted in the thread, and you will be put in permanent moderation. Exceptions may be granted for kinist and Neo-Confederate material depending on the circumstances.
4. Alex Jones’ infowars.com and Mike Adams’ naturalnews.com are both hopelessly infested with conspiracy theories and as such will not be treated as reliable sources or dignified with (favorable) links at Scarlet Letters. Favorable links to these sites will be redacted from comments and the poster asked to provide an alternative citation for their view. Rule #4 is non-negotiable.
Scarlet Letters 
I must say. I really enjoyed the family and the little history lesson about where Sunday School came from. I have always been a father who believed the teaching should start at home. It is indeed the mans and the womans job to raise the children and the fear of the Lord and NOT the churchs. They may simply come along side to help or confirm. Thank you
Thanks for your blog. I have enjoyed it and continue to. Hope we can be in touch.
[…] Hester at Scarlett Letters has written a commentary about the Vision Forum “product” that featured the photochopped Leighton painting. She reports that the product notes the source but fails to tell everyone that they substantially altered it. […]
Just left our local homeschooling group after 10 years because I couldn’t take the patriarchal stuff anymore. Look forward to reading your blog. I wish I had stumbled across it earlier. It is hard to find information challenging their stuff that doesn’t dwell on abuse.
Would you be interesting in writing about your personal/theological journey from patriarchalism to traditional Lutheran Christianity for my website, The Hipster Conservative? Sorry for asking in a public comment–I don’t know how else to reach you. –T. Holgrave
Hi Holgrave:
I was homeschooled, so I grew up around patriocentrists and semi-patriocentrists and got to observe various forms of that theology at close range, but it was thankfully never in my immediate family. I was raised Lutheran and have always been Lutheran, except for a brief stint in the PCA (which pretty much made it clear to me that I need to stay in the Lutheran church). I think I managed to talk myself into believing I was a lukewarm complementarian while I was in the PCA, but neither I nor my parents have ever been patriarchal, and in fact I thought a lot of the stuff I saw in other homeschool families growing up was wonky even as a kid. So it wasn’t really a journey from one to the other, more like me growing into the egalitarianism I really believed all along, and just couldn’t quite articulate.
Thanks for the offer, though. I will check out your blog. I maybe also should consider rewriting the About page to make it clearer that I while I was homeschooled, my family was not patriarchal.
Thank you so much for writing the TRUTH and exposing the twisted teachings of VF, Botkins, etc. Even though Vision Forum is dead, the lies are very much still alive; and so many of us are still processing and healing. I’ve partnered with other VF survivors to share our stories, to help each other heal. http://www.recoveringdaughters.com
We are looking for more brave women to share their stories. Pseudonyms are ok if anyone isn’t comfortable using her real name.