The Surrendered Wife

I received a short commentary from Bill Kuhl about the recent book and "movement", The Surrendered Wife. In short, the theory encourages women to submit to their husbands and let him be in charge. But is this really good for men or women? Read on for Bill's thoughts...The CBS Evening News on February 19 carried a segment
on a new book entitled, "The Surrendered Wife." The
book's author, Laura Doyle, states that women should,
generally, give in to their husbands and stop trying
to control them with criticism and constant nagging.
Her book even argues that women should turn over
control of the family's finances to their husbands.
Although this sounds like it would be a very unpopular
idea with most modern women, the book has actually
sold very
well - it landed on the New York Times Best Sellers'
list the first week it was in bookstores. The CBS
segment also featured a group of Dallas women who had
formed a "Surrendered Circle Support Group," women who
meet to discuss ways of "implementing the
controversial ideas" from the book in to their lives.



However, the lighthearted tone of these women, and of
the author herself, leads me to believe that this book
is, indeed, no epiphany - women as a result of "The
Surrendered Wife" will not come to realize the
excesses of feminism or the many forms of
discrimination against men. In fact, the book's author
admits, "I'm not looking for any converts of any kind.
I'm just saying this is what worked for me." I would
speculate that many of Doyle's most ardent fans are
actually upper middle class white women (all the women
in the CBS report appeared to be) whose biggest nag is
a little voice in the backs of their minds, repeating:
"You know, if you keep coming down on him left and
right, he's going to demand equality too and then
you're going to be the one getting out of bed at 3AM
to go check out the strange noise out back." I think
you'll be likely to find this book on a lot more
living room coffee tables than scholars' desks.
Actually, the whole idea seems like nothing more than
a new way to make money off of the battle between the
sexes. Ho-hum.



Bill Kuhl

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