“love is not divided but multiplied.” With all due respect, that’s bollocks.
Oh sure, it works — up to a limit. When you are at 19 kids, or heck, anywhere 6+, then you have to rob the older children of their childhoods so that they can look after the younger ones, and it is very unlikely at this point that however much they claim to love their kids, the parents will truly have a good idea of what is going on in all their childrens’ lives.
Frighteningly, though, this kind of thing is actually encouraged by the so-called “Quiverfull” movement, and other fundagelical movements, whose apparent aim is to take over America by, quite literally, outbreeding everyone else. These groups don’t so much believe in letting kids have a childhood so much as they believe in breaking children to absolute obedience, and they train the girls that their entire purpose in life is to have and raise babies. That’s it, that’s all: oh, except for cooking, cleaning, and perfect obedience to their husbands. An idealized medieval worldview, in which there is essentially no difference from the fundamentalist Islamic view of women, except that Islamic women still have better access to contraceptives, and the American fundagelical women don’t have to wear burkhas.
I’m sure that to some guys, this just sounds ideal. From a female point of view it’s nightmarish. And it absolutely relies on complete control of one’s children, brainwashing them into being afraid of everything about the world outside one’s religious community, and strictly controlling what people have access to, even as adults. They even tend to believe in arranged marriages…and they make it into a competition for how many babies each woman can have, even to the point that there are severe medical consequences. “The Lord will provide”, except, obviously, when it’s the Lord’s will (apparently) that women start to suffer severe anemia, prolapsed uteruses and eventually repeat stillbirths.
So, yeah, this is not about love. This is about control, religion, and twisted acculturation, at this point. It’s not healthy for women, and it’s not healthy for the kids….and I’m not even sure it’s so great for the men.
Think I’m kidding? A few people have broken out of this movement and written about it.
WillardMBaker over 11 years ago
19 children? Does she have any other hobbies?
Chalkeye over 11 years ago
Great; They get 6% the attention of a single Kid. Nice, Mom.
lbatik over 11 years ago
“love is not divided but multiplied.” With all due respect, that’s bollocks.
Oh sure, it works — up to a limit. When you are at 19 kids, or heck, anywhere 6+, then you have to rob the older children of their childhoods so that they can look after the younger ones, and it is very unlikely at this point that however much they claim to love their kids, the parents will truly have a good idea of what is going on in all their childrens’ lives.
Frighteningly, though, this kind of thing is actually encouraged by the so-called “Quiverfull” movement, and other fundagelical movements, whose apparent aim is to take over America by, quite literally, outbreeding everyone else. These groups don’t so much believe in letting kids have a childhood so much as they believe in breaking children to absolute obedience, and they train the girls that their entire purpose in life is to have and raise babies. That’s it, that’s all: oh, except for cooking, cleaning, and perfect obedience to their husbands. An idealized medieval worldview, in which there is essentially no difference from the fundamentalist Islamic view of women, except that Islamic women still have better access to contraceptives, and the American fundagelical women don’t have to wear burkhas.
I’m sure that to some guys, this just sounds ideal. From a female point of view it’s nightmarish. And it absolutely relies on complete control of one’s children, brainwashing them into being afraid of everything about the world outside one’s religious community, and strictly controlling what people have access to, even as adults. They even tend to believe in arranged marriages…and they make it into a competition for how many babies each woman can have, even to the point that there are severe medical consequences. “The Lord will provide”, except, obviously, when it’s the Lord’s will (apparently) that women start to suffer severe anemia, prolapsed uteruses and eventually repeat stillbirths.
So, yeah, this is not about love. This is about control, religion, and twisted acculturation, at this point. It’s not healthy for women, and it’s not healthy for the kids….and I’m not even sure it’s so great for the men.
Think I’m kidding? A few people have broken out of this movement and written about it.