Six Months of STRONGWILLED

A celebration, and a look forward

Celebrating 6 months of a survivor-led project

Six months ago, we published the first chapter in our multi-media project titled: What is religious authoritarian parenting?

Since then, we have put out 10 chapters (30,000 words), 14 discussion posts, 5 podcast episodes, and cultivated a community of almost 2,500 readers. 

Our most popular chapters (in terms of views and shares) have been:

1. Chapter 9: This Hurts Me More than It Hurts You

2. Chapter 1: What is Religious Authoritarian Parenting?

3. Chapter 8: Children of the Positive Eugenics Movement

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Thank YOU!

We have been overwhelmed by the amount of support we have received from the very community we have been writing to — survivors of RAP methods who are seeking to better understand the political, social, and religious context that they were born into. People who are committed to healing, developing autonomy, and continuing on in the journey of developing self-trust. People who are learning how to be humans, instead of obedient followers. 

We wanted to thank everyone so much for the support — every like, every share, every comment, every mention . . . it really means so much to us, and we truly could not do this project without you.

Researching and writing on these topics for the past two years has taken its toll on us, but being able to put out our content on our own terms and to our specific audience has made all the difference. As survivors ourselves, we wanted to model what it might look like to put out a project that was rooted in research, history, and cultural analysis — but also allowed people to comment and add their own personal stories and experiences to the project. You are helping us shape our work, and your voice matters. 

October is gearing up to be an intense month in the United States, with religious authoritarianism on full display in the political arena. We will be slowing down the chapter content but are committed to cultivating spaces of process, creativity, and connection as we all do our best to survive these next few weeks. 

If you are in a place where you can catch up on our content, here’s the chapters we have published so far in order (you can always click on our About page to get an updated index).

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

Podcast Episodes:

You can listen to STRONGWILLED the podcast wherever you normally get your audio content. Or, you can listen (and read the transcript) for most of the episodes 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

If you would like to receive monthly patreon-only podcast episodes (including one out today), you can subscribe to our Patreon for as little as $4 a month.

Looking ahead

As we finish up our chapters on corporal punishment, we will be looking at the history of authoritarianism and religious parenting practices (in Germany and the US), and will also be putting out our chapters on family estrangement (just in time for the holidays!). 

We are so close to reaching our fall financial goal thanks to the generosity of readers and supporters. So far we have been able to offer over 25 free paid subscriptions to people in the LGBTQIA+ community who otherwise would not be able to afford them. If you would like to ensure this project continues on and help provide more scholarships, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. 

Thank you so much to everyone who has encouraged this project, in whatever way you can. You encourage us to dig deep and find the strong-willed parts we had to abandon in order to survive. We celebrate our continued journey of developing trust with ourselves, and with others in the RAP survivor community.

Much love from Krispin and D.L. Mayfield,

Your fellow strong-willed children, all grown up.