Ex-fundamentalist sounds alarm about presidential election and 'Christian patriarchy'

06 August 2024

In her new book "A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy," former Christian fundamentalist Tia Levings describes her negative experiences in the far-right Quiverfull movement — which teaches that Christian women are obligated to have as many babies as possible and be totally submissive to their husbands.

Levings discussed her book during an interview with Salon's Amanda Marcotte, explaining why Quiverfull and other patriarchal movements are a recipe for domestic violence and abuse — and why the outcome of the 2024 presidential election could either promote or discourage their ideology.

Marcotte explains, "Christian patriarchy is the belief system for a small minority, but thanks to Republicans, it's got outsized power and is threatening to be the law of the land. Tia Levings escaped this world years ago, after suffering sexual and physical abuse by a husband under the conservative Christian ideology of 'male headship.'"

One of the lessons of Levings' book, according to Marcotte, is that "her past threatens to be our collective future, if the Christian Right has its way."

Levings told Marcotte, "I wanted to take a path that would be the exact opposite of what the Christian patriarchy had conditioned me to be, which was very silent and subservient. It almost cost me my life. I wanted to reclaim my own story. But I also was very aware that the patriarchy still sells this false promise, and it doesn't manifest that way in families."

The author warned that the "world" she "worked so hard to escape" is "coming for our country at large."

"Stories like mine can tell people what it's really like to live in the Christian patriarchy," Levings told Marcotte. "It's urgent because Election Day is coming."

During the interview, Marcotte noted that 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), has been "pushing a kooky idea about how to water down women's vote, by giving men with children extra votes." And Levings pointed out that that some of the Christian nationalist proposals in Project 2025 — the Heritage Foundation's 900-page blueprint for a second Trump presidency — are things she suffered first-hand.

Levings told Marcotte, "Project 2025 is getting a lot of attention, but this has been their plan for a while. Project 2025 is written by a dozen or so organizations that are part of my background. The Heritage Foundation is something I'm very familiar with, from being in patriarchy. And now, they're poised to take control of the presidency."

The former Quiverfull member continued, "Now, they talk more openly about these things that used to be fringe, like ending no-fault divorce or taking away the women's vote. I know what it's like to be a woman and a mother in that society."

Amanda Marcotte's full Salon interview with Tia Levings is available at this link.

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