Status Updates From Raising Maidens of Virtue :...

I tried to finish the book before bed so I could talk about it with my counselor tomorrow, but to read another chapter would really count as self-harm at this point. It’s such a painful read. The author quoted Deuteronomy 28:28, 34 as an explanation for the rise in mental illnesses. It’s an utterly heartless assertion that only serves to shame people who are suffering and to puff up the sanctimonious.

This is the first time a book has ever made me dry heave. And it happened more than once.

1. “Her education should be focused on assisting her future husband as his valuable helpmate, not on becoming her "own person.”

2. “A seemingly God-given talent in math isnt an indication of God's will for you be an engineer. Sometimes God gives us talents to help our future husbands in their calling.“

I wish my mother had never read this book to me as a child. I’m only rereading it now because it has come up many times during my therapy appointments and I want to point to the passages I remember word-for-word and explain how each one has haunted me.