We're at the stage that if you have a better idea of what people need to do, then you have to do it. And maybe it starts with a couple of people and grows. YOU really have to do it.
🇵🇸 Free Palestine 🇵🇸 I grew up white evangelical and I’m tired. New book project STRONGWILLED out on Substack now : https://open.substack.com/pub/strongwilled. All things pagan and healing adjacent here: https://open.substack.com/pub/dlmayfield
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We're at the stage that if you have a better idea of what people need to do, then you have to do it. And maybe it starts with a couple of people and grows. YOU really have to do it.
I was REALLY hoping he was dead but luckily for me all that energy wasn't wasted, it's just a part of my manifesting ritual
Thanks for listening Ben!
This was a great conversation. I also really loved Superman.
(that's why all the evangelical parenting books were about crushing the will of children -- they were terrified of rebellion against the white supremacist patriarchy, both in homes and in society).
Once you have stood up to your own parents it makes it easier to stand up to dictators and their boot-licking followers, you know?
Do you want to listen to me yap about Superman and why I think it is a great movie to watch if you want to resist authoritarianism wherever you find it? Yes you do! It's hopeful, I promise (and you can watch me on video if you want) www.patreon.com/posts/hopeco...
It's getting real fascist out here. But some of us have been resisting authoritarianism in our own families and communities for YEARS and we are not going to give up without a fight. I have hope for the future because I know so many people who have clawed their way out of extremist ideology.
One of the best parts about social media collapsing in on itself is that we get to do whatever we want! And I want to keep doing my investigative work, redistribute whatever resources I have to those in need, help end child abuse, and live my joyful little queer life.
I spent years trying to warn people about Christian fascism coming for us all now I am deep in the weeds of connecting the dots between purity culture and serial child predator culture. Sometimes I'm gonna need a break to just giggle about how great and cathartic Superman was.
You can also listen to the audio-only by searching STRONGWILLED podcast wherever you normally get your audio content :)
The solution to Christofascists trying to outbreed progressives isn't progressives outbreeding Christofascists. Arms races of children only harm children. The solution is deradicalizing Christofascists' children and creating safety nets and support networks for when they leave.
Do you want to listen to me yap about Superman and why I think it is a great movie to watch if you want to resist authoritarianism wherever you find it? Yes you do! It's hopeful, I promise (and you can watch me on video if you want) www.patreon.com/posts/hopeco...
From here: strongwilled.substack.com/p/chapter-15...
"Spanking — whether it was ritualized or not — created not just compliant children, but children with disorganized attachment to their caregivers. It blurred the lines, on purpose, between what was abuse and what wasn’t, and taught children to equate pain from godly authority figures as love."
I’m so sorry this happened to you. I’m deep in the research and Dobson’s work in part seemed aimed at pedophiles and giving them cover. It’s beyond disturbing
Like . . . all of these men writing and sharing these books . . .
It is SO cool that millions and millions of parents really liked the creep that was Dr. James Dobson and ruined our childhoods because of they followed his advice. When in reality he was just broadcasting his gross fantasies constantly.
Never heard of this one!
Yesssssssss
If you grew up evangelical-ish, what was the worst purity culture book (marketed to girls) that you ever read?
I really understand the frustration in the land. A lot of people want direction and that's not coming from the people who some usually look to for guidance. To me though, this offers an opportunity for everyone to get creative about the types of anti-fascist action(s) you want to take & to do them.
"It’s not unusual for 'hard-core' child molesters — with more sexual-offense convictions, more victims and younger victims — to be well-respected members of Christian congregations, and to be actively involved as church leaders."
YUP
What I'm looking for in the 2028 primary is someone who will put Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem in jail, and so far, that's Pritzker
Everybody gets to fight fascism however they can. For me? I love besmirching the men who ushered it in.
I'm deep-diving Dobson's history with pornography, child sexual abuse materials, and soooooo many creepy things he has said/written. Now that he is dead and can't sue me, it's time to get cracking!
Support my work, get access to a bunch of fun content, and join our amazing STRONGWILLED discord community! All for $4 a month :) www.patreon.com/posts/celebr...
I'm working on a 10,000 word piece (that will hopefully be whittled down) on the Creeper Alert that is James Dobson talking about dads and their daughters. If you want a sneak peek you can listen to our newest patreon-only episode!
he said a lot more than that actually
I'm glad somebody is finally talking about Dobson's 2010 book called bringing up girls -- there is SO much in there that raises so many red flags for me. www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
I truly thought it would be a lot easier than what it is turning out to be (because that is what people told me). And I just don't have a ton of extra capacity right now.
In a time when finances are already tight . . . it's just hard to figure out the motivation to learn to do a bunch of stuff on my own that honestly Substack made easy.
Trying to figure out leaving Substack right now is breaking my brain. So many people pressure us writers to be perfect and ethical and in reality . . . everything is just really really fucked up right now. It really feels like no matter what I do I will lose both money and readers.
It’s a sucky topic so having a few random days where I see that others are processing the pain he caused has been helpful to me. People are making the connections.
The sheer amount of hatred for that man!!!! I feel incredibly validated rn.
It’s been totally overwhelming (in a good way!) to see something I have been personally obsessed with (besmirching the name of James Dobson) suddenly go mainstream.
Ok I wrote up my top five reasons of why Dobson is the worst (and why even though we are celebrating his death all of us in the US have to deal with the consequences of his horrible beliefs): strongwilled.substack.com/p/ding-dong-...
It annoyed me so much I had to write my own obituary for Dobson (J/K I just summed up a few of the reasons he is the WORST) open.substack.com/pub/strongwi...
In recognition of James Dobson's all too delayed death, we republished an account of his legacy -- a three part series about evangelical child abuse, a culture Dobson disseminated and propagandized. buttondown.com/theswordandt...
BTW we are actively in the process of leaving Substack, don't worry!
Absolutely. Dobson also went to Russia and convinced Putin to focus on Family values as a winning election strategy!!!!
Ok I wrote up my top five reasons of why Dobson is the worst (and why even though we are celebrating his death all of us in the US have to deal with the consequences of his horrible beliefs): strongwilled.substack.com/p/ding-dong-...
If you are shocked and horrified at the outpouring of joy and glee happening because Dr. James Dobson died today, please remember that many of us were punished horribly any time we asserted our own will in childhood thanks to that man. Let us have whatever emotions we have!!!!
Fun fact I used to write cover stories for them (it was over a decade ago and I got banned from writing for them for being OK with gay marriage 🙃🙃🙃)
Yeah I definitely make sure to enjoy my queer little life!!!!
Wow Christianity Today really pissed me off with their eulogy for Dobson. Those ghouls over there truly do not care about the abuse of children huh?
and a happy james dobson is dead day and congratulations to all who need it for outliving that fucker
I’m glad everyone is bashing Dobson right now for . . . everything. Right now I’m working on a few chapters detailing how his parenting methods and the misinformation he shared created cultures of child sexual abuse in patriarchal Christian homes and families. It is so much worse than you think.
Rest in piss!
Very grateful for @dlmayfield.bsky.social who gave me permission to express joy at a truly evil man who caused so much harm dying. I shouldn’t have needed permission but turns out getting it was helpful.
I was having the BEST time!!!
www.tiktok.com/@dlmayfield?...
Hey all at 9AM PT (so in like 20 minutes) I’m going to be doing a Tik Tok live where we can hang out, celebrate, and talk shit about Dobson!
Are you even an exvangelical if your social media feeds are not filled with people rejoicing at the death of Dr. James Dobson?!?!?
Yes I can believe it because he was a white supremacist eugenicist from the very beginning. He wasn’t a hypocrite — he was a calculating man obsessed with power and control. open.substack.com/pub/strongwi...
Here is our chapter on how Dobson was a white supremacist eugenicist (unfortunately more relevant than we want to believe in 2025): strongwilled.substack.com/p/chapter-9-...
I will never forget the way my partner Krispin RAN into the bedroom to wake me up with the news of Dobson's death today. Definitely a core memory was made
His legacy: broken families and abused children.
today we get to believe in hell, as a little treat
If you're (blessedly) unfamiliar with Dobson or don't understand my joy at his expiration, D.L. and Krispin's work has been instrumental in helping me in many ways, including making some sense of my formative years.
wow I love this so much
Here's me and my wife @nerfcrucifix.bsky.social kissing/doing her estrogen shot outside of Focus On The Family. Burn in hell, James!
And lastly, here's a chapter on how Dobson popularized a ritualized form of corporal punishment that taught children to equate hurt with love: strongwilled.substack.com/p/chapter-9-...
Here is our chapter on how Dobson was a white supremacist eugenicist (unfortunately more relevant than we want to believe in 2025): strongwilled.substack.com/p/chapter-9-...
Here's our chapter on how Dobson turned our childhoods into a blueprint for a long civil war: strongwilled.substack.com/p/chapter-5-...
James Dobson is finally dead and I have been trying to besmirch his legacy for the past few years! If you want to understand how he targeted strategic developmental stages in childhood to create people ripe for authoritarian abuse, start here: strongwilled.substack.com/p/chapter-3-...
can I tell you how proud I am that a lot of people are telling me this
REST IN PISS JAMES DOBSON (yes he is finally dead!!!!)
Grifters grifting each other does in fact make me giggle
I'm gonna take some time this week to highlight some of the incredible work @thebugbeardispatch.bsky.social does to help outsiders understand the rhetorical games Evangelicals play to get their way You should definitely subscribe for more like this: www.bugbeardispatch.com/evangelical-...
This is not to downplay the violence of what Trump/MAGA is doing but I do want to point out that these folks live and breathe white grievance and spend so much time and resources on indoctrinating their youth. And yet so many of us leaving, in droves. And we are not being quiet about it!
Hey I grew ensconced in white Christian nationalist rhetoric and homeschool history textbooks — which absolutely downplayed the reality of slavery — and guess what? I still turned out to be a race traitor (and an atheist to boot)
This is not to downplay what Trump/MAGA is doing but it is to point out that these folks live and breathe white grievance and spend so much time and resources in indoctrinating children and we are just . . . Leaving. In droves. And we aren’t being quiet about it!
"How bad slavery was" is worse. Much worse. Much worse than you think, much worse than you're taught, much worse than museums depict. Worse.
Buckle up, everybody because this is knowledge that we all need in order to keep our communities safe:
Thank you!!! I get very overwhelmed by alt text but I know it’s important
I doubt the research equated that but I am! (here in the US it’s the majority religion and I believe it was the majority of the predators studied). There are a few factors that make patriarchal Christianity particularly attractive in my opinion that I am writing about over at STRONGWILLED
I’m sorry I can’t do the alt text on this one but here are the major sources:
For more info on this horrifying yet necessary subject, check out our interview with @rlstollar.bsky.social (a child protection expert who provided these statistics) open.substack.com/pub/strongwi...
Stranger danger is a myth created to help people deny the horrible reality that abuse is done by those they know and trust
And they target Christians and Christian spaces
Not a creeper/loner living in a van. But a married guy in a community
Buckle up, everybody because this is knowledge that we all need in order to keep our communities safe:
I was right to hate all the Christian men who tone policed me on Twitter a decade ago. What a bunch of cowards! If only they had used their hateful energy to, you know, attack the actual fascists instead of calling people like me hysterical.
like . . . I am non-binary and watching my rights get stripped away in real time and you want me to engage with your work and promote it? Ugh. Fix your hearts or die (also stay alert everyone, lots of transphobes out there publishing stuff)
truly one of the most annoying things that happens to me is when publishers and authors request an endorsement or ask for me to interview them when they are not public allies of the queer community (and oftentimes they hold anti-trans views).
This.
I somehow got on Alaska witchtok and it is pretty wild! Lots of rumors and conspiracies and just a lot of general unease about why Putin is coming.
As someone who lived in Alaska a few times in my life I truly do not think people realize how poorly this Trump/Putin meeting could go. www.usatoday.com/picture-gall...
It’s all so wild to me! Also I’m sorry
If you don’t think about the abject failure of the media to rise to this moment every day then I guess I can’t relate to you 😬
If your solution to people shitting the streets is cops and not toilets you're just a fascist.
Fun fact! My dad has been an evangelical pastor for almost five decades, and often served in larger churches as the marriage and family pastor. He is also currently estranged from the majority of his children and grandchildren but will retire in glory in his community 🙃
I hope your community is never occupied like LA or DC. But if it is, you’ll quickly find that people don’t take kindly to having their city under federal control. And folks are just getting started. 📌 Protesters gathered near a checkpoint in the U Street corridor in Northwest Washington.
hey guess what this is literally a grooming tactic pedos use
