The Good Wife Level 2

We continue up our somewhat arbitrary hierarchy of good wifery, with the Good Wife Level 2. This woman has some ambitions to be above average, and to exceed the norms of her time and milieu. These ambitions tend to be, themselves, somewhat conventional in their nature — they are things that everyone agrees are “better.”Continue reading “The Good Wife Level 2”

The Good Wife: Level 1

Following the example of Marie Robinson, of providing an ideal which serves as a model to follow, I think I will do a series about a “good wife.” This will involve several levels of increasing complexity. In practice, things are not so well defined as this — there could be a woman that does thingsContinue reading “The Good Wife: Level 1”

Rules For Contraception

There is a rule for contraception, and it is this: No female contraception. In practice, this means condoms, or solutions such as vasectomy. (I don’t recommend that men cut their balls off.) Besides the many problems with birth control pills (more here), all female contraception (IUDs, diaphragms, spermicide, etc.) represent the female’s intent to becomeContinue reading “Rules For Contraception”

The Power of Sexual Surrender (1958), by Marie Robinson

The Power of Sexual Surrender was written in 1958, in the middle of what we today consider a high point for family and traditional womanhood. But, actually, the problems of feminism were common then too. Marie Robinson was a psychologist with a practice that focused on “frigidity,” which was: women who had difficulty achieving orgasm.Continue reading “The Power of Sexual Surrender (1958), by Marie Robinson”

Modes of Failure Today #2: The Girl Who Loved Children

I have a friend who is a lawyer, and he has three daughters. They were lovingly raised in a good (and intact) family. The second daughter was the sort of girl that loved children, and other soft, furry things like rabbits or horses. She was not very academically inclined, although she did what she wasContinue reading “Modes of Failure Today #2: The Girl Who Loved Children”

Modes of Failure Today

I will relate a little anecdote I heard, that pertains to our interests here. Our protagonist is a smart, successful corporate woman type, who is coming up on her fortieth birthday unmarried and childless. After dismissing children and family for a long time as secondary, she is now panicking as women often do around thatContinue reading “Modes of Failure Today”