{journal five}

I think the Cult of True Womanhood (CTW) is alive and well in our modern day society. I think among the working mothers and stay at home dads, there are individual families, groups and entire movements purpose is to preserve "true" womanhood. By true womanhood, I mean women placing their life ambitions on that of their husband, children and household. And that their sole purpose in life it to please their husband, procreate children and maintain a pleasant household.  Additionally, these characteristics go hand-in-hand with being extremely religious. Another attribute is purity -- being pure before marriage, during marriage and raising your children in a pure household.

Does this all sound familiar?
PIETY -- check
PURITY -- check
DOMESTICITY -- check
SUBMISSION --check

Yes, folks.  The cult of true womanhood still lives and breathes.

I think the show 19 Kids and Counting is a great example of the cult of true womanhood.  If you haven't seen the show before, here's a little recap:

• Jim Bob and Michelle have 19 children.
• They believe that God will bless them with as many children as He deems fit.  Therefore they do not use contraceptives, except for abstaining from sex for six weeks after a child is born (hence why they have some kids that are 13 months apart).
• They are all home schooled, the boys learn 'boy' skills and the girls learn 'girl' skills (in addition to reading, Bible studies, math and art).
• The girls all wear long skirts and have long hair.  The boys all look like Richie Cunningham from Happy Days.
• They only date people of the opposite sex, that share their same moral values.  And all their dates are supervised.
• Jim Bob Duggar says that woman should be treated like queens, while Michelle Duggar views J.B. as the decision-maker, breadwinner and all around ruler of the roost.
• The children are exposed to very limited T.V. and Internet.
• The girls seem to strive for marriage and procreating.  There isn't much talk about college and careers.  It's mostly about finding a husband that has a good career and can take care of you.

At the same time though, Michelle Duggar does make the decisions for the house.  She oversees things and manages everyone; much like we discussed in the cult of true womanhood.  Often women would be the keeper of the checkbook and oversee the family money, even though on the outside, it was the man who ruled everything.

This first clip is an interview with Michelle and J.B. about God blessing them with as many children as He deems fit:

And this second clip gives a good example of how the girls and boys grow up learning different activities and striving for different goals.  This also shows that the Duggars are not alone in the type of family movement:

*I'd also like to point out that their 19th child, Josie, was born at 25 weeks in December 2009.  She was just now released from the hospital, after having multiple surgeries and weighing 1 pound at birth.  Michelle got pregnant with Josie 4 months after she had just given birth to her 18th child.  J.B. and Michelle have been quoted in interviews saying that they'd love more children after Josie, if God wants to give them more children.  Did it every occur to anyone that maybe Josie was born so premature because Michelle's body's ability to carry a fetus to term was hindered because she had delivered so many children?  And her body hadn't even recovered from the previous one before she got pregnant with Josie?  Now, that could have nothing to do with why she was premature.  I think it is important, however, to address this issue, because there is a fine line between "God's will" and endangering the lives of your children.