The Obedient Wives’ Club – in the Name of Love?

There’s been a lot of brickbats for the newly formed Obedient Wives’ Club which has
suggested that a wife must obey and serve her husband like a first-class prostitute. The OWC international vice-president has said that “a man married to a woman who is as good or better than a prostitute in bed has no reason to stray”. The club even offers sex lessons to help women keep their husbands.


Women’s groups, individuals from both genders have declared that this is “totally unacceptable”, “ terrible” , “ ridiculous”, “stupid idea” and “disgusting”.

Apart from spousal abuse, extra-marital affairs are often the main factor in the breakup of marriages. The name of the club suggests that disobedient wives are to blame for a man straying outside the marriage.

A marriage is a partnership between two people who have decided to spend the rest of their lives together building a family and a home. Both are equal partners who deserve mutual respect and are expected to pull their weight in building their family unit.

If both partners are true to and care for each other, there will not be a third party in the marriage. So why is there the perceived need for the wife to serve her husband like a prostitute to keep him by her side? Each would know the other’s needs and seek to fulfil them the best they can.

The question of subservience should not arise, not in today’s world, although most unfortunately, there are still very backward societies that regard women as mere chattels.

Love does not seek to bind nor only to please oneself. It is best summed up in William Blake’s poem:

“Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care;
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.”

Perhaps the Obedient Wives’ Club susbscribes to the other side of the coin which Blake has aptly described:

“ Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another’s loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heaven’s despite.”

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