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grammargirlNothing like a little 17th century politics of the bedroom to make me appreciate my current status as a woman, however flawed it may be...
If thou wouldst have thy Wife to reverence thee, do thou love her. To force a fear from the Wife by an austere, churlish, and surly carriage, is that which neither befits the Husbands place to exact, nor the Wives to yield: the Woman must be not drawn but led, not forced but wooed unto her duty by Love. --From LOVE and FEAR: The inseparable Twins OF A BLEST MATRIMONY, 1658.
Excuse me while I go burn my bra and join the nearest radical feminist organization.
EDIT: Holy crap, it gets worse:
The truth is, the Apostle here requireth love and somewhat more from the wife, such a love as expresseth it self by fear, such an affection as yieldeth chearful subjection: "The Wife see that she do not only love, but reverence her husband." To this purpose Theophylact saith aptly, "the wife must love her husband as a member, and fear him as the head:" the man indeed being the superior is only bound to love, but the woman being imperfect and inferior is obliged to fear.
Mmmm, 17th century misogyny. What a way to start the day.
If thou wouldst have thy Wife to reverence thee, do thou love her. To force a fear from the Wife by an austere, churlish, and surly carriage, is that which neither befits the Husbands place to exact, nor the Wives to yield: the Woman must be not drawn but led, not forced but wooed unto her duty by Love. --From LOVE and FEAR: The inseparable Twins OF A BLEST MATRIMONY, 1658.
Excuse me while I go burn my bra and join the nearest radical feminist organization.
EDIT: Holy crap, it gets worse:
The truth is, the Apostle here requireth love and somewhat more from the wife, such a love as expresseth it self by fear, such an affection as yieldeth chearful subjection: "The Wife see that she do not only love, but reverence her husband." To this purpose Theophylact saith aptly, "the wife must love her husband as a member, and fear him as the head:" the man indeed being the superior is only bound to love, but the woman being imperfect and inferior is obliged to fear.
Mmmm, 17th century misogyny. What a way to start the day.
