Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy. I'm Amy McPhee, All the Best. Have you ever been confronted by

someone who claims that patriarchy is a thing of the past and that women are no longer oppressed?

I have heard this claim many times from old men and young men, even from women in conservative

circles and very liberal ones. When these conversations

happen, I have sometimes wished that I had a book that I could recommend that shared a real

life example of blatant patriarchy alive and well in the 21st century. And especially I've wished

that I had known of a book that not only told someone's

irrefutable life experience, but also showed how patriarchy was not a one-off bad experience,

but a manifestation of a massive system that affects all of us. Well, listeners, I found the book.

It's called A Well-trained Wife, My Escape from

Christian Patriarchy. It's by Tia Levings, and I am so excited to welcome Tia to the podcast today.

Welcome Tia. Tia Levings is a writer, creator, and content specialist. She shines light on the

abuses of Christian fundamentalism to educate,

validate, and empower those who feel smashed by the patriarchy, to create something beautiful

from pain. And because when she went through the hell of church-sanctioned violence, she felt

alone, but wasn't. There are thousands of others out there.

Her memoir, A Well-Trained Wife, My Escape from Christian Patriarchy, came out in August 2024.

And I cannot recommend it highly enough. Listeners go out and buy this book, check it out from your

library. This is a must read from Breaking Down Patriarchy's library. So Tia Levings, again,

thank you so much for being here. I'm so excited to talk about this with you. Thank you for having me.

This is like a long needed connection, so I'm grateful for the opportunity. Me too. Well, I'd love to

start out with a bit of a personal introduction. If you could tell listeners where you're from, just your basic info, where you grew up, your family of origin, and then kind of setting the stage for the topic that you write about in the book.

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