Molly

As one who lived in a patriarchal marriage for 8 years, it is akin to emotional rape and I really appreciate you putting it that way.  Except that then, I spent a lot of my private time beating myself up for feeling that way.  I was trained to think that ANY time I didn’t like being “ruled over,” it was because of Gen. 3:16 (their warped interpretation of it—that a woman will always try to rebel against the rightful rule of her husband).

As such, it took me a lot longer to *get* that this was abuse than it should have.  It’s hard to realize something is abuse when both of you have well-intentionedly been following God’s will to the best of your ability (and all your books, teachers, etc, tell you that patriarchy *is* God’s will)!