Inside the Hidden World of Christian Patriarchy: One Woman’s Journey to Freedom
When Matt died, I left his toothbrush by the sink until the plumber needed a clear workspace. When I finally put it away, I packed it in a small Mylar bag, then vacuum-sealed the whole thing. Perhaps a compulsion to preserve what remained of my maternal identity explains why I found Tom’s action too shocking to analyze. For years, Andrea had welcomed viewers into her Christian domesticity, joyfully posting Wal-Mart hauls, birthday parties, and tutorials on how to self-monitor pregnancy out of distrust for the medical establishment. Maybe because Andrea’s death was treated as witness, burning the crib seemed so incongruent with the notion of biblical womanhood that so shaped her testimony.
