What Is STRONGWILLED?

STRONGWILLED is a multimedia project that focuses on the personal and political impacts of Religious Authoritarian Parenting.

Since the 1970s, the religious authoritarian movement has been gaining momentum in the American context, and we believe that parenting ideologies play a large role in the spread of Christian nationalism and authoritarian leanings. We also believe that these parenting approaches have had significant psychological impacts on the children who were raised with them.

We are embarking on this project with the goal of better understanding our current political landscape -- and helping people recover from the personal impacts of religious authoritarian parenting. This project aims to validate the lived experiences of children who were taught, often from infancy on, that obedience to authority was their primary goal in life – obedience to god, to their parents, their church, the police, and more. Religion was used in these authoritarian frameworks to further control children, and to ensure these children would carry on the religious, political, and racialized identities of their parents for the rest of their lives.

Current Chapters:

• Chapter 1: What is Religious Authoritarian Parenting?

• Chapter 2: Children (and Parents) Under Pressure

• Chapter 3: The Beginnings of the Religious Authoritarian Parenting Movement

• Chapter 4: Children as Casualties of the Culture War

• Chapter 5: Blame the Rebellion on Mr. Rogers

• Chapter 6: The Political Threat of Toddlers

• Chapter 7: Adolescence and the Illusion of Choice

• Chapter 8: Children of the Positive Eugenics Movement

• Chapter 9: This Hurts Me More Than it Hurts You

• Chapter 10: Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child

• Chapter 11: Focus on the Fascist Family

• Chapter 12: Estrangement in Religious Authoritarian Families

Podcast Episodes:

You can listen to STRONGWILLED the podcast wherever you normally get your audio content. Or, you can listen (and read the transcript) here on Substack.

• Send this Episode to Your Therapist Pt 1 : What is Religious Authoritarian Parenting and how does it impact people?

• Send this Episode to Your Therapist Pt 2: What are the impacts on family dynamics of RAP?

• Krispin’s story of growing up with an authoritarian father

• DL’s story of growing up with a religious mother

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Who We Are

We, Krispin and D.L. Mayfield, are both products of the modern religious authoritarian parenting movement that has shaped millions and millions of evangelical Christians. 

Krispin is a therapist who specializes in working in religious trauma recovery and supporting neurodivergent clients. He wrote a book on attachment theory and Christianity in 2022 (and has since left the faith). He loves photography, music, and most anything creative. 

D.L. is the author of three books and a former freelance writer. They are a late-diagnosed autistic who currently has a special interest in exposing Christian authoritarianism and healing from high-control religion (see their other Substack below:)

Healing is My Special Interest

The intersection of late-diagnosed neurodivergence and healing from high-control environments. Also, combatting Christian fascism!

By D.L. Mayfield

Both of us grew up in homes where we were only allowed access to Christian media, where our parents utilized Dr. James Dobson parenting books, and both of us went into full-time Christian ministry for many years before our own mental health couldn’t take it anymore. Currently, we are busy working on this project but also are creating the kind of family we always dreamed of with our two children that is full of joy, autonomy, community, and creativity.  

Why this project?

The United States has an authoritarianism problem, as 2024 is quickly proving. Our hypothesis here at STRONGWILLED is that parenting ideologies have a large role to play in conditioning people to accept authoritarian rule as the ideal political framework.

Here are just a few of the questions and curiosities we will be exploring in this Substack community and in the accompanying podcast:

• What if the rise of authoritarianism was the direct result of raising children to maintain a hierarchical system in which they embrace their god-given roles without complaining?

• What if authoritarianism is formed and learned and taught at home and in religious spaces throughout the United States--and has been one of the most popular forms of parenting philosophies from the past five decades? `

• What if religious authoritarian parenting methods were not simply a set of directives but were actually a foundational element of a reactionary and authoritarian political movement?

• What does it mean if you grew up in the middle of the parenting moment? How does this parenting style impact how you view yourself, your ability to make your own decisions, set boundaries with your parents, and to engage your own autonomy?

STRONGWILLED aims to create a collaborative space where together we can ask these questions and use history, research, and personal stories to gather insight.

Who this project is for: 

Maybe you were born into this parenting movement--or maybe you love someone who was. 

If so, this project is for you -- to explain the history, psychology, and lived experience of growing up with religious authoritarian parenting methods -- and to learn how to move forward with autonomy, self-trust, and emotional intelligence. 

The majority of the content will be free and accessible to all and we invite you to share widely if this project resonates with you.

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 If you would like to financially support our work, we invite you to join our paid community -- which gives you commenting privileges, access to weekly discussion posts, members-only content, and more. 

Thank you for being here with us. All of us have a Strong Willed child at our core, and this project aims to honor that part of us with every post we publish. 

For media and press inquiries, or to connect with Krispin and D.L., please email us at strongwilledproject@gmail.com