What is anti-feminist traditionalism therapy?
Ginny Irene, 37 and based in the US, reached out to a conservative counsellor when her husband of 10 years grew jealous and controlling. Over several months, the therapist advised Irene to persevere with her unhappy marriage. She recommended books that told me to respect [her husband] more and give him sex whenever he wanted, and my marriage would improve, she says. It was only when Irene broke with the counsellor and found a formally trained therapist that she realised that her marriage was emotionally abusive and that the first counsellor had influenced her to see the state of her marriage as her own failure. Proper therapy helped me heal and file those [divorce] papers, she says. She adds that the coachs reference to the Jezebel  the famous fallen woman of the old testament and a figure frequently invoked by Christian traditionalists in relation to single mothers  was also upsetting. Despite the dangers of undertaking therapy conducted by untrained counsellors and coaches, and the messages of womanly forbearance promoted by authors such as Pearl and competitor JoBeth Hooker (whose book Your Body Is Not Your Own rails against feminism as the serpent), traditional identity-based therapists are here to stay.