Rating: 
Summary: Just be yourself instead
Review: Since most of the Christians I know (various denominations) endorse honesty and responsibility as key to a healthy marriage, I was shocked to see this infamous title was still in print and enjoying favorable reviews. I previously heard about it from friends who are members of the reformed Mormon church, believing they and their female family members were entitled to human dignity. In otherwords, this title no longer speaks authoritatively even for the original core audience it was supposed to connect with. Apparently this very title was THE in-thing in the 1950's and 1960's for training women to become 'good' members of the general church. If nothing else, it makes an excellent case study how litterature can effectively program and control people's minds. Andelin instructs women to become docile big children and let the husband have the self-esteem and encouragement instead of dispersing it equally throughout the whole family unit. Blissfuly unaware of the realities of marriage (then and now) Andelin promotes a profoundly backwards approach to relationships. According to this mindset, people will not like you unless you can successfuly transform yourself into a fairy tale and expend your valuable energy keeping that same act up. Frankly, books like these make me very ashamed to be a member of the human race because they go well beyond other right-wing sociopolitical works (including Schafly)in subordinating women. Sure the cover says the work is updated for the most current printing, but seriously who wants a life partner (if possible) who talks baby talk and is unable to think for themselves. It seems to me that this same enviroment invites the potential for extramarital affairs, the 'good' men become bored with the 'helpmate' and search for a woman who they can have a conversation with. If nothing else, economic reality of the current basic cost-of-living requires women to participate in the public sector. People embracing this book as 'proper' will have a very hard time when they are required to excersize survival skills in this intentionally not sugar-coated world.
Rating: 
Summary: HMMMMMMMMMMMMM...........................
Review: Gotta tell ya.... after being married for 14 yrs, this was an eye opener.... just one day after applying MINIMAL recommendations from this book, our relationship is better than ever.......thought it was simply a good laugh about the 50's, but let me tell you, this WORKS>>> and you don't have to wear saran-wrap at the door, you just have to do WHAT YOU ALREADY DO A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY... truth be told, it's kinda fun playing a little girl sometimes...........huh...who'da thought..........? Here I was trying to be the "tough, can do it myself" sort of woman when I did not have to. (Although he and I both know I could, it makes him feel so much better to let HIM do some things...) Take what you will from this read, but just try a few things and you will be a believer.!!
Rating:
Summary: "I am glad I will always have a man to take care of me!"
Review: If you're an average wife, see if you can get away with saying that to your husband without his either bursting out laughing, throwing up, or entertaining grave doubts about your general fitness to be the mother of his children, or maybe even to be running around loose. And yet it's just that sort of gushing manipulation that is the stock in trade for Helen B. Andelin's book. Since this book came out in 1965, Helen B. Andelin is no spring chicken. She's close to eighty if she's a minute. Not that that matters, but it should shed some light on why she would advocate the kind of super-submissive "domestic goddess" approach that she does. Not only was she a wife and mother during the infamously domestic 1950s, she is a member of the Mormon Church, which means it's a pretty good bet she'd take the same approach today. I grew up in the RLDS Church, which is an offshoot of Mormonism, and I can tell you that the odds of changing the mind of someone who thinks like Helen Andelin are about the same as the odds of making five straight passes in Las Vegas. Some of that conservativity is just part of Mormon culture, and that's all there is to it. There's not much I could say here that hasn't already been said by most reviewers. I *did* give this book one star, and that's because I agree with its general principle, which is, in my book, to make a husband feel appreciated and to treat him with politeness, consideration, and respect. However, I would expect that this advice goes equally for husbands, and the idea that a wife should blame herself for every bad thing that happens in her relationship with her husband is ridiculous. If you visit Helen Andelin's website at www.fascinatingwomanhood.net, you will see that she is still urging wives to take on the blame when a husband is thoughtless, hurtful, uncommunicative, etc. I've read Helen Andelin's other book, "The Fascinating Girl," which is meant to be a single woman's version of "Fascinating Womanhood," and was written with the goal of "landing a husband" in mind. I am a 38-year-old woman who has never married, and while the reasons for this are somewhat more complex than that I wouldn't pretend to be some dependent, childlike, clinging little girl, the fact is that if that's what is required, thanks, I'll pass. I did, I have, and there are NO regrets. More important than books like this one should be books that remind young women that marriage is not the be-all and end-all of life. It is possible to be happy and successful without wearing a wedding ring or being a mother.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Womanhood
Review: With all respect to the author this book is defintely not Christian. My boss is a luke warm baptist church member who has decided to teach the fascinating womanhood course. Her marriage definitely is not in line with the book or with the proper christian marriage (they never see each other - both try to avoid each other). Anyway, this book was at work and I picked it up to have a read. I was in shock. Being a born again Believer I was surprised that this book sugested it was christian.
It says that women hold the key to marriage? The Bible teaches different. Men are supposed to be the head of the marriage. They need to be responsible for the family.
Also, the book is asking that women pretend to be someone they are not. If you do everything that your husband wants (example: dressing up as a schoolgirl etc) you are pretending to be someone you are not. Everything he wants you to do may not neccessarily be you.
Another thing, if you need to read a book like this in the first place I suggest that you shouldn't be married. Being married is all about communication. If you need to read a book to find out about your husband then something isn't right. You need to be able to communicate together (make sure you have this right before you marry?!?!).
I see alot of people who are suffering in their marriage and the main reason is because there is a lack of communication. God is a talking God. He talks to us, his children, so therefore we need to marry the right person in covenant (we need to be committed)and we need to be able to talk and communicate with the spouse.
I also see people who have a great marriage, never argue (occassionally may get a little upset remember we are all human) they get along just like really good mates. The reason? Because they communicate and talk to each other.
Rating:
Summary: The Best!
Review: This is the best marriage book written, besides the Bible.
Rating:
Summary: womanly woman
Review: I read this book several years ago and have practiced many of the principles in it for most of my marriage of 15 years. The advice Andelin gives is very wise. One of the author's main points is that women should be "womanly". Men are very different than women in the ways they think, respond, feel, etc. It is wise to try and understand these differences, and Andelin helps a person to do just that.
I would be curious to know how successful in relationships the women giving a negative review to this book are. my bet is "not very". Their ridicule of this book is a little over the top.
Rating:
Summary: This book scared my boyfriend
Review: The Villainess read some excerpts from this book, then marched up to her co-habitater and told him that from now on he could earn all the bread and make all the decisions. He told me that he already had quite enough problems in life, thank you. Honestly, this book promotes cruelty to both women and men. Cruelty to women in the obvious form, by making them utterly unprepared to cope with life in any form except by roping men into looking out for them - and woe betide if you get dumped or become a young widow, since logic, training for a practical career, and learning basic financial planning all seem to be verboten on account of they'll make your husband's manlihood wilt and fall off. Cruelty to men by creating women who expect to be taken care of and protected and who will basically serve as dead weight or an extra child in any relationships they enter, leaving the men with twice the stress and responsibility. The only possible redeeming argument for all this nonsense is that people who believe it deserve what they get, but even that doesn't fly when there are children involved, especially daughters who might be prevented from getting the education they'll need to survive later in life.
Rating: 
Summary: An Insight into a Man's Mind
Review: I am a 26 year old woman who has been married for 8 years. My sister recommended this book to me and I have to say that I was absolutely engrossed in what it had to say. You can say that this book teaches ignorance or racism or sexist remarks, but it does nothing of the sort. You have to read this with an open mind. This book explains men inside and out. Every test that this author mentions, worked like a charm each and every time. I have saved my husband and I many many arguments by being able to understand how he feels. Men are just as complex as women and understanding men is simply a gift. This book tells women to love honor and cherish their husbands. Is it not true that women want the same thing. Haven't you ever heard the phrase "what goes around comes around." That's what this book is about. Treat your man with respect and honor and he will return the feeling with an honest heart. That's all there is to it. It tells me why my husband says and does the things that he does and helps me to help him. Women want to be treated with respect and honor and dignity and this book shows you how to achieve this on a kind and honorable level. It is not a book about being a doormat and it does not say that you have to give sex on demand as one of the reviewers mentioned. It simply says that when we are kind and loving to others, they will be kind and loving to us. The only thing I found difficult was the part about not being employed. I agree that there is no more noble a career than being a homemaker, but in todays expensive world, there are often times, no way around it and if you're going to have to work, it might as well be something that you enjoy and if you have to go to school for that then so be it. This book does NOT say to train your daughters to not think for themselves, it simply tells you to teach them the beauty in domestication and femininity. This book made me feel proud to be a woman and helped me understand the importance of my role in my family and in society. This book teaches that women have the power and gift to make a happy home and raise God fearing, respectible girls and boys. Take pride in your femeninity and love unselfishly.
Rating:
Summary: Ugh...sexism at its 'finest'?
Review: One day, I was bumming along with a few friends of mine that happened to be hanging out in a local Baptist church, when we came across this book...by simply reading a few quick passages from the book, I soon discovered one of the greatest literary treasures I have ever laid eyes on. A comical treasure, that is. Oh, brothers and sisters, let me tell you of the joys of laughter that this volume will provide from here until revelations. My chums and I soon took turns reading entire chapters from the book aloud, in our best reverend voices, exposing the loud and clear racist, sexist, and ignorant-as-hell overtones that this book possessed on every page. Few days of my young life have been spent rolling on the floor, gripping my sides in pangs of laughter such as the day that I discovered Fascinating Womanhood. This book, after you stop laughing at how ridiculously chock full of lies and non-Christian propaganda it is, is an absolutely terrible, prejudiced book of utter nonsense, and any individual with even an once of self-judgement, not to mention common sense, wouldn't be caught dead reading it for its intended purpose. Basically, Fascinating Womanhood could aptly be described as a handbook for the subservient, callow wife that hides under the prayer altar, giving her husband all he desires without question. This sort of macho b.s. might've worked back in the Catholic church of yesteryear, but what with all the pastors relying on choir boys for their 'under-altar' duties nowadays, I like to think that holy mother church has moved on from sexism, choosing instead to focus their time on even more sinful activities. That having been said, let's investigate the book's idiotic hullabaloo a little further, shall we? There are chapters upon chapters upon CHAPTERS inside this text that clearly outline how a good, weak-willed Christian wife is suppossed to best live her life for her husband, her family, and community, all according, allegedly, to what the Bible originally preached, the word of god himself. What a crock! I seem to remember this little-known fact about how Jesus was all in favor of equality of all god's people, including that 52% of the world population known as 'females'. Anyone else heard of that? I'm sure it's gotta be in that book of yours SOMEWHERE. Ugh. There's enough Christian-hating in this world as is, and woman-hating nonsense like this is only worsening the problem. The fact that this book was even allowed to see the light of day inside some horrible publisher's house is an atrocity in itself...but it's actually received POSITIVE reviews on Amazon, many of which were posted by honest-to-gosh WOMEN, no less? Give me a break. Here are some of the commandments delivered from this book, though I have paraphrased entire chapters to save you, the loyal reader, some time, not to mention some valuable brain cells. Remember, these only apply if you're a woman, and especially if you're of the married variety. Here goes: 1. Thou shalt never argue, talk back, dispute, or defend thineself when thine husband disagrees with thou.
2. Thou shalt always do all the housework and chores, all the time, without thanks, and wear a smile while doing it, as well.
3. Thou must always raise thine male children to rise their rightful place as the head of society.
4. Thou must never raise thine female offspring to think for themselves, especially not when a man is in charge.
5. Thou must always put out whenever thine husband ask-eth, no matter what. Headaches are no excuse. (I'm not making this up, remember this.)
6. Thou must never, EVER attempt to acheive gainful employment outside one's own home.
7. And most importantly, thou must always follow the biased word of god, according to a bunch of holy-rolling men who want nothing more than a cook/dishwasher that enjoys sex on demand. What kind of self-respecting woman would ever pay heed to this book, much less put its unbelivable principles into practice? Oh wait, that's a contradiction...you would have to have absolutely NO self-respect in order to let someone else lead your life for you. This book is so demeaning, so offensive, so close-minded, it's damn near faschist. I say again: Ugh. Double 'ugh', in fact. I find it hard, nay, impossible, to believe that a woman allegedly wrote this...a man using some made-up effiminite name that was popular 100 years ago (you remember, before woman's suffrage), just so women would think to themselves, 'Hey, sister Helen B. Subservient says this is right, so I'll just follow right along with her!'. Gag me. Listen up, ladies and gentlemen...unless you are looking for a good laugh, avoid this book like the plague. It's not right. It's not factual. It's not credible. It's not Christian...not at all. It's CERTAINLY not reasonable. It's ANYTHING but believable. So I implore you, do not read this book, or allow anyone to even hint at buying it for you as a present. If you receive it as a gift this Christmas, mail the book back to them, but only after tearing out the pages, and utilizing them as makeshift toilet paper for as long as you can stand. This book is that horrible. Save yourself, save your loved ones, and save your money...Fascinating Womanhood is a waste of them all. God bless you, sisters. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, not only am I a guy, but I'm 18, too...so what could I possibly know about any of this? Happy trails.
Rating:
Summary: Are you brain dead? Then this is the book for you.
Review: I found this book to be very racist and disturbing. It would be funny if not for the women that actually take this to be gospel. The racism is throughout the book it is very obvious this is intended for upper class white women, and there are direct racist remarks. I found the advice that wives should be "childlike" to be very disturbing. Any man who takes to this is looking more for the child than the wife. I think the author thinks that adult humans are quite stupid and need to lie and manipulate each other in order to have a good marriage. If you are married in an honest and loving relationship with your husband and he likes you for your intelligence and maturity then this is not the book for you. This book is not about feminism or feminity it is a book that advocates an unequal union and manipulation as a way to get what you want. It degrades both men and women.
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