No Longer Quivering (http://nolongerquivering.com/) is a blog started last year by Vyckie Garrison and her friend Laura, with the goal to bring attention to the dark underbelly of the Quiverfull movement based on their own experiences. Since then, it has also become a place for other women to tell their own stories of living through (and making it out alive!) patriarchal and fundamentalist religion by appearing as guest bloggers. While Laura hasn't been able to be around much anymore, Vyckie is still posting updates to her story (part one starts here) while also working on writing her book.
Until hearing about this blog I had never heard of the term "Quiverfull", though after reading about it realized that I knew of two families who fit the description from my old days at church. The Quiverfull movement is basically a lifestyle adopted by hardcore evangelical Christians who make it a mission to breed as much as humanly possible, all for the glory of God. This is based on the Bible passage of Psalm 127:3-5 "Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate."
Not only are women expected to constantly be pregnant in their mission to collect as many "arrows" as possible... but men are also the leaders and God-appointed heads of their household, mediators between God and the rest of the family. So, basically the men rule with an iron fist because God said so and the women are to dilligently bow down, with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. As you might guess, this opens the door for some frighteningly abusive relationships. But that's not my story to tell, many in the community at NLQ are bravely doing that themselves.
This leads me to what is one of my favourite parts about NLQ - the community. Comments for each blog post are posted on their message board, which I think is what encourages the strong sense of community they have going on. There is a real mixed bag of people from all different religious (and non-religious) backgrounds with different points of view to bring to the table. And much like us here at Buttercup, the bulk of the community is made up of women of all ages, but with a few brave men taking part as well. Though I mostly just lurk and have yet to really throw my two cents into any discussions it's still one of my favourite parts about the site.
I first heard about No Longer Quivering back in April of last year from a post in a Live Journal community that I follow, calledDark Christianity. However, No Longer Quivering gained a lot of attention from an article on Salon.com a month prior. Since then Vyckie has made a few television appearances, including a spot on the Joy Behar Show and being in an episode of The Secret Lives of Women.
You can follow Vyckie on Twitter: http://twitter.com/NoQuivering
And there's even a Facebook fan page here.
