Wifely submission advice leaned on sex appeal and costuming rather than doctrine

Evidence

Morgan’s advice had a religious foundation: “The biblical remedy for marital conflict” was the submission of wives to husbands. It was God’s plan for women to be under a husband’s rule. But Morgan mostly drew on her own experience, particularly when it came to questions of intimacy, a topic about which she had much to say. To begin with, it was important for women to keep up their “curb appeal,” to “look and smell delicious,” to be “feminine, soft, and touchable,” not “dumpy, stringy, or exhausted”—at least if they wanted husbands to come home to them. But that was just the beginning. To keep a husband’s interest, Morgan was a strong believer in the power of costumes in the bedroom (or kitchen, living room, or backyard hammock), so that when a husband opened the front door each night it was like “opening a surprise package.” One day a “smoldering sexpot,” another “an all-American fresh beauty,” a pixie, a pirate, “a cow-girl or a show girl.” (Contrary to popular belief, Morgan never recommended that women clothe themselves in nothing but Saran Wrap. She wasn’t sure where that rumor got its start, though she conceded it was “a great idea.”) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 144

Categorization

• CANDY: The Saran Wrap disclaimer is a genuinely fun, surprising tidbit perfectly suited to a dinner-party anecdote about 1970s evangelical pop culture.
• DEFINE: Illustrates the book’s method: the religious claim is asserted, but the actual content is consumer culture — commercialized feminine performance as the vehicle of theology.