a book that won't be making it onto my read list*

My mum sent me the relationship advice book she was raving about for Xmas. I felt obliged to try to read it, but I didn't make it past the introductory chapter. I could feel my lip curling into an involuntary sneer as I read about how men and women are different, just like blue and pink are different and how men are responsible for being providers and therefore have authority over their wives. I finally felt too icky to continue reading when it got to things like "because the Bible teaches that it was Eve who was deceived ..., I should be very aware that there will be moments when I can be misled by my feelings and want to ignore my husband's counsel" and, as advice to husbands "Do I remind myself how energizing it is to her to be referred to as my equal?"

The premise of the book is that men want respect and women want love. Apparently this means women should be happy if their husband loves them enough to occasionally tell them they're equal without respecting them enough to actually treat them that way. My skin is crawling again, just reading over this post and remembering what the book was saying.

The sad thing is, my mum has been reading this book and feeling like she should write a letter of apology to my dad for not respecting him enough. I really hope she doesn't do that.



*I've read 8 books so far, already, thanks to my new Plan for finishing work earlier.