Confession: I used to belong to trump culture.
Not entirely willingly, mind. I was young, religious, and I made the naĂŻve mistake in thinking that all Christians were like the ones I had encountered at my home church: warm, tolerant, kind. I fell in love, and we did what young, hormonal Christian teenagers did: rushed into a marriage.
I realized my mistake almost immediately, but it took far too long to get out.
Personally, I endured abuse at the hands of my new husbandâmental, physical, sexual, economic, emotional. You name it, he did it. Brutal is an understatement. He systematically broke me down until I was a shell of a human being. Iâm still dealing with the emotional fallout and physical side effects, and I probably will be for another decade at least.
Thatâs personally, but letâs talk his family. Because he was an extreme case, yes, but he was raised with the idea that women existed to keep their mouths shut and their legs open. I spit out two children faster than I could whip my head, because birth control wasnât part of godâs grand plan for my life. I was fulfilling my purpose as a mother, and wasnât that great? My husband didnât want the first baby. He wanted me for himself, see? Abortion was unthinkable, but he fully expected to carry a babyâmy babyâto term, then give it away.
Keeping him was my first rebellion. Keeping the next one was my second.
In the time I belonged to that family, I watched my mother-in-law endure the same, though less extreme mistreatment. I watched every young female family member be groped by the family patriarch. âThatâs just how it is.â I was shamed for making a fuss about it. I watched an older cousin try to sexually assault my teenage sister-in-law and she was the one who felt ashamed. We women made family dinners while the men sat on their asses. My husband and I lived with his parents for a short time. She and I would go to work each morningâan hour each wayâwith our husbands sitting in their robes in the living room, playing video games. When we returned hours later, weary, exhausted, they hadnât moved. The standard greeting? âWhatâs for dinner.â
Thatâs his family, and yes, some families are sexist, but letâs talk about church. Thatâs where all of this is validated, encouraged, taught. Imagine my shock, when I went to my new husbandsâ family church and encountered muted xenophobia and racism, a heavy dose of homophobia, and some damned overt sexism (see above.)
Equal roles, but different. Sound familiar? This is still being taught to little girls today.
In church, I listened with quiet disgust as pastors preached about how awful my sisterâone of the gaysâwas. I piped up and asked how that sexual sin was any different than the two young church kids whoâd just been caught âin a bad wayâ, soon to expect their first baby. Sexual sin is sexual sin, isnât it? I sure did get an earful for that one. We did church boycotts: Disney, Target. Every Sunday School class: Job, cookies, and lets pray God saves the moos-lims before they all come over and blow us up. We revered people with white savior complexes who went to be jesusâs hands and feet and save the poor, helpless Africans.
Hate and ignorance, wrapped up in the holy Scripture. Hallelujah.
Meanwhile, I endured this abuse. This abuse, and every door slammed in my face as my husband hit me, tortured me. âStay true to your vows,â the pastor would say. âYou have communication issues,â our sister-in-law would tell us. My mother-in-law: âLinds, you just have to accept it. Love is a choice.â
âBut what about the part where it says that husbands are to love their wives like Christ loves the church?â I asked.
My brother in law, joking: âThis is why women arenât supposed to speak in church.â
This America is alive and kicking, kids. Itâs never gone away; itâs just been lurking, behind closed doors. âPass the casual racism and meat loaf, would you? And get me a glass of water while youâre up. Ketchup, too.â What Iâm scared about, truly, is that I know this. And these ideas are now validated. Now mainstream. Almost 50% of our population believes this is a good idea.
âItâs our time to take America back.â
What in the hell, if theyâve been saying these things behind closed doors, and if they believe them In The Name Of Godâwhat in the hell are they going to say in the open, now? What in the hell are they going to do?
The 50s are revered as the aspirational yester-year, days gone by. Progress, as we call it, is godlessness to them. We, the godless libs, took Jesus out of schools. Weâve gone wrong ever since.
This is the America people want back, and thatâs my first fear.
I got out. And Iâm terrified that this, my success story, wonât happen anymore.
Iâm the rare statistic. I un-brainwashed and educated myself. I got counseling (against every Christian advice) to treat severe post-partum depression. In the process of becoming a healthier person, I realized what a goddamn mess I was.
It took three tries and a pastor-pseudo-therapist legitimately telling me, âYou know if he hits you again, Linds, Iâm going to have to tell you to leave.âÂ
All regretful, like it was bad news.
âWhy should I stick around and wait for it to happen again?â I asked.
He didnât have an answer. I left the next week.
It took a few boldfaced lies (itâs temporary, itâs just a separation), and a few miracles, and a large support system of family and friends who all but plucked me out of that hell.
For leaving? My price was excommunication. From his family, our friends, our church. I am the heathen who Divorced my Husband and broke our home. In that entire city, only three people talk to me now.
(No loss, but it took a long time to recognize that.)
I never, ever would have made it on my own. I had two small children, a new job that barely paid a living wage, and I was, as Iâve said, a shell of a human being. I left him and went straight to the human services office. Without subsidized childcare, healthcare, and food supplements, we would have starved or been homeless. It never would have been possible.
These are the services that will probably be cut first.
How will anyone in my situation ever be able to leave? They wonât. Not to mention federal funding for shelters, crisis counseling for families, healthcare for abused women, and legal services for domestic violence victims. Throw in a court system that doesnât value women, and a cultural mentality that believes what happens behind closed doors should stay behind closed doors⌠What hope do abused, trapped women have? None in hell.
If this is what makes America great again, I want out. Iâve been there, done that, and Iâm never, ever doing it again.
Youâll take it back over my cold, lifeless body.
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