How Media Sells Discontent

Guest Post by Donna Martin

Myrna Blyth is the New York Times bestselling author of Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness -- and Liberalism -- to the Women of America. It was a book that really made people think about how much media bias was aimed at women and what was the effect of such bias. For more than twenty years, Myrna Blyth was Editor-in-Chief and Publishing Director of Ladies’ Home Journal. She sold women "a career in exactly the same drum banging way that the Happy Homemaker had been sold to their mothers."

As you well know, the media is run by the world system, and the world follows Satan's agenda. When you watch or read the media from the world system, it can be easy to get sucked into the its vortex. The following messages were conveyed by Blythe during her career. See if you recognize these media-sent messages.

1. Men can no longer be trusted. Using the Lifetime Network as an example, Blyth concluded "all men are 1) unfaithful rats, 2) abusive monsters, 3) dishonest, or 4) all of the above. Women on the other hand were...flinty achievers who triumph, despite the cavemen who want to keep them in their place."  

2. Women are victims by virtue of their sex. Blyth said the media sends "one message loud and clear. Because we are women, we remain victims in our private lives, at work, in society as a whole." Thus women must have a sense of grievance, entitlement and rebellion.

3. Women should be selfish. "Liberation and narcissism have merged," Blyth said. Leisure now means, "time for yourself, spent alone, or perhaps with one's girlfriends but definitely without spouse and kids...Endless articles preached the new feminist gospel, that indulging yourself is an important part of being a healthy, well adjusted woman."

4. Sex is not reserved for love and marriage. Magazines like Glamour and Cosmopolitan  urge young women to "put out on their first date,"ogle men openly" and be an athlete in bed. There is no discussion of marriage or family. Such women can't trust a man enough to surrender themselves in love.

5. Self-fulfillment lies in career success and not husband and family. "The social rewards of holding down a job are critical to one's sense of dignity and self worth," Betty Friedan pontificated. In fact, "most work is deeply ordinary," Blyth observes.

Thus many women are pulled in two directions, as they attempt to reconcile their natural instincts with constant exhortations to do the opposite. As time passes, the wreckage -- broken families and dysfunctional children -- is scattered everywhere.

At the same time, Playboy Magazine created a revolution aimed at men with a very similar message. Men's magazines and programs focused on the ill-informed message that you don’t need to get married to have sex, or live together. Marriage and children are a bore.

Our children are being told that rebellion and disrespect for adults is normal, dressing immodestly is in style, and sex amongst teenagers and unmarried are acceptable. The message that "it's okay to be gay" is also widespread.

Do you ever have the sense that we're living in the time of Sodom and Gomorrah? Rebellion to everything that the Bible says is natural and conducive to happiness, is the order of the day. Like the one they are loyal to, Satan, they wish to play God.

Just as the Lord Jesus loves us and assures that we are protected and cared for daily, His love can be seen in a woman's dedication to her husband and children. It can be seen by the faithful care she takes in preparing meals, doing the laundry, and keeping her home clean and organized. Just as our Lord has given us a firm foundation, we can provide the security of a firm foundation for our children by being there for them when they need us. Satan has created a fangled web in which to live, but our homes and lives can be a demonstration of what is good and right in this world - even if that means shutting out the world.

Wherefore come out from among them, 
and be ye separate, saith the Lord, 
and touch not the unclean thing; 
and I will receive you.
2 Corinthians 6:17

Who is More to Blame for the Destruction of Our Culture?

Are men or women the most to blame for the spiraling downward of our decaying culture? As I was pondering this question, this verse came to mind, "Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish pluck it down with her own hands" {Proverbs 14:1}. I thought about the verses in Proverbs about how disobedient women are described as quarrelsome and nagging. A godly women may even win a disobedient husband with her godly behavior.

According to this article nearly 70% of divorces are initiated by women because "it's often the woman who expresses more overt conflict and dissatisfaction about the state of the marriage. On the other hand, the man is more likely to report feeling troubled by his wife's dissatisfaction, but pretty much 'OK' with the way things are; he's content to just lope along as time passes."

Why are women more quarrelsome and nagging? Why are they more dissatisfied with marriage than men? Expectations. Like you have probably heard, men marry women and want them to stay that way and women marry men wanting to fix them. Expectations destroy marriage. Women are more likely to break up marriages which is unfortunate since they are the ones who suffer more financially and physically; they must work outside of the home and aren't protected. 

What else has caused the destruction of our culture? Feminism. Women were told to be dissatisfied at home so they left their homes for careers. Their homes stand empty all day. Children are being raised by others and not being disciplined properly so they are rebellious. Affairs happen now more in the workplace. Little boys aren't being raised by fathers. Wives are too exhausted to care for their husbands and they tear their homes down with their own hands. 

What about the church? Why has it become so lukewarm and ineffective? Feminism and women leading. Preachers are afraid to speak about a woman's role in her home for fear they will lose half of their congregation. They would be run out of the church if they taught wives to love and obey their husbands and be keepers at home. Even older women who try to teach the younger women are sneered at. I know. Instead of teaching these things, women are teaching things they shouldn't be teaching and becoming leaders in the church. As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths {Isaiah 3:12}.

Even Donald Trump gets the value of women in the home. He said these words in 1994, "I think that putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing. If you're in business for yourself, I really think it's a bad idea. I think that was the single greatest cause of what happened to my marriage with Ivana," Trump said. He said that he disliked hearing her "shouting on the phone" during contentious business deals."A softness disappeared. There was a great softness to Ivana, and she still has that softness, but during this period of time she became an executive not a wife," Trump had said.

Then his comment about his second wife, Marla Maples working outside of the home, "I have days where I think it's great. And I have days where, if I come home -- and I don't want to sound too much like a chauvinist -- but when I come home and dinner's not ready, I go through the roof," he said.*

I am figuring if women can tear down their homes, they can tear down a nation. How should we respond to this? Go home. Raise your children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. Fix your family nutritious food. Love and obey your husband. Find out what pleases him and be happy and satisfied with him. Live within his income. Be content and joyful at home. Find a church that is solely run by men. Listen to male Bible preachers and teachers. In short, obey God's Word. Yes, we are a remnant but let's be a strong remnant for the Lord. He calls us to do this and He gives us the means to do this: His Word, His Holy Spirit, and the ability to come boldly to His throne. Live this way and you will reap blessings; for we reap what we sow.

*Source: This is not an endorsement of Trump in any way,
 but I sure do agree with these words of his.

Men Giving Up on Marriage

According to this article, men are giving up on marriage. With the divorce laws and feminist movement, many men just don't feel getting married is worth it. In past generations, men and women knew what their roles were and marriage was simple. The husband worked hard to provide for his family, while the wife stayed home and cared for the home and children. It's rare to find this anymore.

More women are in higher education and getting careers than men, thus taking the place of men and many men have no work and fail to get into higher educations institutions since the women are taking their place. The same is happening in the job market. More women are taking over the jobs that used to be held by men. "Women are 'tough and independent' and men don't think they're needed anymore. With feminism pushing them out of their traditional role of breadwinner, protector and provider - and divorce laws increasingly creating a dangerously precarious financial prospect for the men cut loose from marriage - men are simply no longer finding any benefit in it."

When I ask them why, the answer is always the same: women aren't women anymore. Feminism which teaches women to think of men as the enemy, has made women 'angry' and 'defensive,' though often unknowingly. Now the men have nowhere to go. It is precisely this dynamic - women good/men bad - that has destroyed the relationship between the sexes. Yes somehow, men are still to blame when love goes awry. Men are tired," Venker wrote. "Tired of being told there's something fundamentally wrong with them. Tired of being told that if women aren't happy, it's men's fault."

"It's the women who lose. Not only are they saddled with the consequences of sex, by dismissing male nature, they're forever seeking a balanced life. The fact is, women need men's linear career goals - they need men to pick up the slack at the office - in order to live the balanced life they seek."

Wow! These are powerful words to ponder, women. In seeking to have equality and be like men, we've lost femininity and the romance we all so greatly hunger for. Feminism only looks at the short-sighted goals instead of pondering the long-term destruction for society, families and mostly children. 

We are Christian women who must go back to God's calling on our life and have nothing to do with feminism, but instead seek to be feminine. We must seek to please Him in all that we do. He calls women to be their husband's help meet, to submit to and obey them. He calls us to love and please our husbands and to fulfill their sexual needs. He calls men to provide for their families. The farther we get away from these roles, the worse every one's life becomes, especially the children. Go back to the biblical path and reap the bountiful fruit of doing life God's way. Go back to the old paths; to the good way. You will never find rest for your souls any other way.

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, 

and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, 

and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. 

Jeremiah 6:16

***Why Your Family is So Important. "The American Psychological Association has taken issue with the kind of dolls that are being created for our daughters. Where once they were give baby dolls and dolls that they could role play with, now they are being given dolls with pouty lips and fishnet and high heel boots and parents must not understand this; that what a girl plays with a doll is just practice for what she will become when she is older."

The Dark Side of Feminism and Equality

When I have mentioned before that men and women are not equal and never will be no matter how much feminists want this to be true, I get scolded. Yes, I know we are equal in value and worth and in the eyes of the Lord, just as children and parents are equal in worth, yet they aren't equal in authority and many others things. I believe the same is with men and women. Men can never be women and women can never be men no matter how hard they try. God designed us differently in the way that we think, respond, hormones, size, stature, strength, anatomy, etc. for wonderful purposes. 

An article has just been written by a former editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine who thought she "had it all" but was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Large numbers of today's educated, middle-class women are more stressed, more prone to depression and drinking more than ever before. They are leaving it too late to settle down and have children, and ending up alone - and lonely. Lifestyle changes that are concomitant with equality, and which women like me once welcomed, are taking a toll that seems to grow greater.

I love what Elizabeth Elliot had to say about this topic, "A Christian woman's true freedom lies on the other side of a very small gate - humble obedience - but that gate leads out into a largeness of life undreamed of by liberators of the world, to a place where the God-given differentiation between the sexes is not obfuscated but celebrated, where our inequalities are seen as essential to the image of God, for it is in male and female, in male as male and female as female, not as two identical and interchangeable halves, that the image is manifested."

God is very clear about the roles He has given to males and females and what is best for each sex. People will ALWAYS suffer when they depart from their God-given role. Is it any wonder that in any given year, women appear to experience higher overall rates of psychological disorders than men? Women were never meant to be the protectors and providers. We are not physically or emotionally built for these things. We are built for nurturing and taking care of our family and home. Look at the female body compared to the male. Study the difference in the brain and emotions. Take blood and compare the hormones. We're different, so different from each other and God made us different for a reason; for the good of the family and society when our roles are followed as ordained by Him. The problem, I believe, is that you can't over-ride the inbuilt instincts in men to be the protectors and providers, while women - however career-minded they are - are still natural nurturers and nest-builders.

This article wasn't written by a Christian nor from a Christian perspective, yet she claims that while there's much to celebrate in terms of women's achievements, the price paid for equality is rising exponentially. I don't think the price of straying from our God-given roles is worth it in any way. The cost has been way too high and those who have suffered the most are the most innocent, the children. You see, she believes that the things that have come out of the feminist movement have been good, whereas, I believe they are VERY bad. Putting commitment on hold to concentrate on your career, as well as to experience multiple relationships before settling down, has liberated women from the shackles of economic dependence and enriched their lives socially and sexually. And, of course, for some women, Mr. Right comes along in their mid-30s at the moment they're ready to commit and there's a happy-ever-after ending. But a growing number of women are finding themselves alone and unhappy. In a woman's sexual freedom, she fails to mention the consequences of numerous venereal diseases, infertility, and even death for some. Many women pursue careers and gain a mountain of debt that prevents them from being able to stay home and raise their precious babies so she is still believing the lies feminism promises. This doesn't sound like freedom from the shackles to me.

She also believed the lie that men want powerful and strong women who can provide for themselves. To her dismay, she found out the opposite was true. All had grown-up children, all were the principal breadwinners, and in four out of five cases the men left for younger and far less ambitious women. I reckon they thought that the wives they left would be just fine without them; that they'd tough it out. These women found out that their power diminished their husband's role of being protector and provider.

This author's marriage broke down when she was 56 years old. My marriage broke down around the same time. I was 56 and my son 19. My husband, who had always supported me in my career, made the remark: "After your breakdown, you became tougher. I think it was good for you to toughen up, but it wasn't good for me." A study revealed that those husbands who are more financially dependent on their wives are more unfaithful. We can't think we can escape from God's ordained roles and there won't be terrible consequences.

She sums up her article with these sobering words:  You could call it a work in progress, but unless we acknowledge the impacts of change on our physical and mental health and relationships, rather than dismissing them as scaremongering and anti-feminist, women will continue to pay a very high price indeed for so-called equality.

The ONLY answer to this problem is to go back to God's ordained path for the sexes. I see way too many young Christian women with higher education who know more than me and God's ways. They have feminist's tendencies that lead them away from fully embracing God's plan for women. They can't help but learn these feminist's lies in the present educational systems of today, including Christian institutions. It grieves my heart. I don't understand why they don't have "Keepers at Home," "Homemaking," "Child Raising" and "Marriage" courses in all the Christian colleges since these are along the line of what God wants for women, not high-powered careers that they are stuck with for the rest of their lives that keep them away from their home and marriage.

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, 

and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, 

and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. 

Jeremiah 6:16