She let it go

Larissa's mom gave her, a sixth-grader at the time, a framed print that said, "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." She absorbed her mom's view of the world. It seemed to her that wives in general were sad, overwhelmed, repressed, miserable. Conclusion: you have no need of a man (image), so never marry.

Confirming that opinion, every marriage she knew about as a child ended in divorce including her that of her parents. Marriage was a trap and there was little or no important difference between women and men. She read books by feminists "who were busy deconstructing every idea foundational to family life, from gender roles to monogamy . . ."

"Why would girls play at mothers or wives when they could sit on the Supreme Court or fly to the moon?" It seemed "small and backward and insignificant."

But Larissa let it all go, all that training she had received as a child and then a young adult. She became a wife, by choice. How could that happen? Glad you asked.

 from "How I Became a Wife"

 (cont'd tomorrow)