We got word yesterday from CBS News: the Jeubs will be featured on the Women’s Entertainment Network (WE-TV) on Tuesday, November 10. The show that captures us (and two other “quiverfull” families) in the series Secret Lives of Women, this episode titled “Born to Breed.”
Huh?
Yes, you read that right: “Born to Breed” on the Secret Lives of Women. Take a look at some of the past show titles here. Tattoo artists, polygamists, abusive women, and worse. This is a rough crowd we’ve jumped into. Quite dicey.
Update: The producer emailed me a newer link that updated the show’s title to “Quiverfull Moms.” We’re back to “Born to Breed”…See here.
But Wendy and I have a strong story to tell, one that we hope CBS fairly captures. In a nutshell, God has laid on our hearts to have children, and we raise them with the tools He gives us. Our “dicey” side is this: we push back on popular assumptions about families like ours. More specifically on WE-TV, Wendy brings this message home to women.
There is a popular sentiment against family life. For a moment, consider the rush of arguments. Women like Wendy (housewife, mother of 15, living on a modest income) are stereotyped. She should be fat, barefoot and pregnant, at her wit’s end. Her life should be oppressive and overwhelming. She should have no self-esteem, no joy or fulfillment. You know, the woman-in-a-shoe template.
Wendy–a fulfilled, beautiful woman who follows the heartfelt conviction from God to have and bear children–dispels these myths. Come to think of it, this is a “secret life,” one worth exposing on sensational television. We are a large, happy family who are living the life we were born to live. We hope the show brings to the surface a universal question women have: What would my life be like if I, too, had children? Maybe a lot of children?
We have been given fair warning about the show. The preview of the “Secret Lives of Women” series has some risque camera shots, I suppose what you’d expect from cable television. Two other quiverfull families are profiled. Rachel Scott has much more experience than us appearing on nationally recognized news broadcasts (e.g. Fox News) advocating for families to embrace the quiverfull movement. The other family is a divorced mom who previously embraced the quiverfull lifestyle, till her marriage fell apart. Kathryn Joyce, a known anti-quiverfull feminist, was interviewed for the show, but I’m not sure if she made it through the editing. We’ll see how it goes.
Doing these television shows are a bit nerve-wrecking. We don’t see the show till the rest of the world sees it. Tune in Tuesday, November 10, and watch it with us. I’ll post a poll on www.jeubfamily.com for your feedback.
About Chris & Wendy Jeub
