As much as many of us would like to believe otherwise, the Christian patriarchy movement is not just a small group of Americans. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., has raved about the "sexual anarchy" that supposedly dominates our secular nation. Donald Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, has denounced childless women as "sociopathic" and "miserable cat ladies." Project 2025, the blueprint for how Trump would run a second administration, is above all things a Christian nationalist document that calls for a ban on pornography and policies to force as many women as possible into giving birth. Christian patriarchy is the belief system for a small minority, but thanks to Republicans, it's got outsized power and is threatening to be the law of the land.
Tia Levings escaped this world years ago, after suffering sexual and physical abuse by a husband under the conservative Christian ideology of "male headship." She is out now with a memoir titled "A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy," and a warning: Her past threatens to be our collective future, if the Christian right has its way. She spoke with Salon about her experiences and how they aren't as fringe as they used to be.
