Girls Gone Bible Wild is a Trad Life Maga Pipeline
Make Jesus Sexy Again is on brand for MAGA
Salon writer Amanda Marcotte covered a Girls Gone Bible scandal, and I was happy to weigh in on their trad life to MAGA pipeline.
At best, Girls Gone Bible is the cavalier grift that happens when savvy new converts recognize the earning potential in Christian audiences—especially audiences hungry for mainstream legitimacy. They’re making bank by hawking ideals, heedless of the consequences or damage field already left by less relevant, older predecessors.
At worst, they’re sexy baby ladies cast to reel in and radicalize young women the way the manosphere exploited young men. With mannequin uniformity and passionate whispers, they make Jesus sexy again by teaching male headship, submission, purity, and (ahem) modesty. But they aren’t doing this independently, and the lack of production transparency matters.
When I examined GGB’s online footprint, I knew right away I’d stepped into MAGAnation. My ads filled with trad wife content. I couldn’t decipher if these two were twins or sisters (they’re neither) because their presentation is so similar—a lack of individuality is a bright red flag for a cult environment. Here’s a glimpse at my notes:
The play on Girls Gone Wild is evident—sexy sorority porn in everything from their vocal ooo’s and ahhh’s, baby voice sweetness, intimate postures with each other, and glam appearances. Content made for men who want a “smoking hot submissive wife” and women who want men who will grant them that attention currency. Faith content made for the male gaze and anti-feminists love it:
Sex teases mingle with evangelical phrases:
“that’s your gift”
“I go to the secret place”
“I do my father’s business”
“take it off, sister”
More oo’s and ah’s— my senses were confused. One minute I think these girls are about to start making out with each other and the next, they’re sharing scripture in an earnest, breathy whisper. Spring break with Bibles instead of shots. A midriff showing while she clutches a bible to her chest demonstrates this isn’t your mama’s purity culture. This dress code would fail the standards of the last 30 years in evangelical culture and it’s quite the rebrand for young women.
It’s the same old message in sleek new packaging.
What hurts my heart most is to watch them toss their hair back and insist nothing can go wrong with submission.
"I believe submission is, like, the highest form of beauty for a woman," Reitsma said in a video defending the fundamentalist teaching of male headship over women. Rather than asking for love or respect from a man, she said, a woman should pray to God and let her husband "come to me in his way." She assured viewers, "There's no way it can fail," because "you're not trying to go head-to-head with each other. There's God in the middle, who works it all out for you guys." —Salon.com
So much can, has and does go wrong. This take is dangerous, and young women who want to emulate the GGB aesthetics, values, and lifestyle could easily find themselves in an abusive environment that’s preventable.
One of the responses I hear to my story is, “Couldn’t you see that high control coming?” Sometimes, the answer is no: patriarchy doesn’t advertise with outcomes. But sometimes the answer is yes—patriarchy sells a controlling ideal that sounds like romance. It sounds safe. I knew exactly what she meant when Angela said, “I have such a desire, like a true yearning, to be led spiritually. I just want to sit and look up at a man talking to me about theology," Her voice was breathy and earnest. “Here is a woman who still feels broken,” I thought. “She wants a strong man further ahead in his faith to lead her because he’ll make her feel smart and safe.”
If only it reliably worked that way.
Yesterday, I was on a podcast interview with Marion Roach Smith. The episode will be out soon. I got chills when she said something to the gist of, “The success of marriage in the patriarchy comes down to being lucky in who you’re with.” The moment truly underscored what I’d encountered in the GGB footprint. My husband was a theology buff. He was “further ahead in his faith” than me many, many times. It’s how we landed in a high-control cult, deeper conspiracy theory, and dangerous violence—as nurtured by the pastors we followed.
It’s one thing to be led into an idealized, stylized version of patriarchy unaware; it’s another to have counter-information online, in documentaries, books, films, and all over social media and ignore it. There are survivor stories for everything the GGB women hawk. If you encounter GGB, I hope you’ll weigh their recommendations against the evidence, testimony, and research available.
A WELL-TRAINED WIFE is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook anywhere books are sold. It was an instant NYT Bestseller, Goodreads Choice, and Audible Canada Best of Year.
Other posts you may like:
Fundie Baby Voice Isn’t What We Called It
The Problem with Your Trump-Supporting Friends
The Chronic Fatigue of the Trad Wife Life
Read about The Girl Who Told Me to Shut It.
It's the Botkin girls just with MAGA esthetics and probably Right-wing dark money. It's two fairly attractive but failed actresses who found a cash grab like all C-listers who are milking whatever careers they have left by turning to conservatism. What is interesting is the razor thin line they are taking between being "pin up" MAGA "beauties" and Kari Lake/Caroline Leavitt/Kate Britt "tradwife" esthetic. Like every other facade around MAGA it's only a matter of time before the mask slips and the gravy train runs out.
No woman should only be as safe as her husband is good, nor only as loved as she is young/beautiful.
I find it interesting how quickly “good” husbands can turn into abusers/addicts once their wives are financially dependent and children enter the picture, in religious/sociopolitical cultures like these.
I also find it interesting how “choose better” and “focus on meeting his needs better” are still considered helpful advice, given how often the above scenario plays itself out.
Young women are encouraged to ignore older women unless those older women stick to Titus 2, and this is intentional. As a Christian, I embrace Titus 2 along with all Scripture, but there is more to the sad reality and scary circumstances women find themselves experiencing.