By Andra Watkins
Many Christian Nationalist women ENVY women who had choices they believe they lacked, either because of the misogynist CN interpretation of the Bible or their own fear of what might happen if they made a contrary choice. Compounded by the Social Media Envy Factory, they watch other women get advanced degrees, pursue careers, get abortions, delay motherhood, date around, and be child-free. These women had the power to set boundaries, travel the world, make their own decisions without a man’s permission, and choose themselves first.
Envy is a potent emotion. Often, it is fueled by REGRET.
The regrets of Christian Nationalist women can flow along these lines: I should have gone to college. I wish I had finished college instead of dropping out and getting married. I should have waited until I was older to get married. I wish I’d married a different man. What would my life be like if I didn’t have children? I’d love to travel instead of being in church every time the doors are open. Where would I be now if I had divorced my husband instead of staying because the Bible condemns divorce? I wish I had a career instead of depending on my husband for everything. I’m so tired of submitting to my husband.
They may lack introspective tools to identify and cope with these emotions. Bible reading, prayer, and church attendance don’t make these feelings vanish; over time, they fester into a more toxic stew. Consequently, they vote to force all women to be as unhappy as they are. If I can’t make this choice, by God, neither will you.
Here’s how that plays out in real life:
Most Christian Nationalist women would deny such thoughts or feelings, but they are indoctrinated to distrust self-analysis and reflection. If a CN woman admits a sliver of such emotion, she is immediately lectured to stay in her place. A Bible is shoved in her face, where someone (usually a man) shows her why she is wrong. She may be humiliated via anonymous prayer requests that turn into public shaming in the form of prayer. Or she might be shunned until she gets her heart right with God and falls in line. Her children could either be punished along with her or recruited to force her surrender.
The emotional, mental, and psychological abuse is relentless. Instead of fighting, many CN women resign themselves to their indoctrination. ENVY and REGRET morph into a malignancy that rots them from within, leading to another powerful emotion: DENIAL. Since they feel powerless to change their own situations, they do the next-best thing: They punish other women who have what they can’t or won’t allow themselves to have.
