Have you heard about Love Italian Style, the 'advice' book by Real Housewives of New Jersey star, Melissa Gorga? It might as well be called Chauvinism, Actually. A rom com it is not.
According to an article in Jezebel, Gorga has been taken aback by accusations that her book promotes marital rape, when she claims it's all about mutual respect. Hm, we must be reading a different book.
Witness the quote from her husband and control freak extraordinaire, Joe: "Every girl wants to get her hair pulled once in a while. If your wife says 'no,' turn her around, and rip her clothes off. She wants to be dominated." Sound familiar? Yeah, I thought so, too.
In fact, there are so many passages that reek of disrespect and borderline abuse, it's hard to narrow it down to just a few gems. But I'll do my best.
"His style was to make corrections and to teach me from the beginning days of our marriage exactly how he envisioned our life together," writes Gorga. "Joe always says, 'You got to teach someone to walk straight on the knife. If you slip, you're going to get cut.' Even if something didn't bother him that badly, he'd bring it up."
From dressing as 'eye candy' to please him, to having sex even when she doesn't want to (because, really, who's fault would it be if he had to go elsewhere for nookie?), Gorga also has to make sure she's home when he gets there, with dinner on the table, children fed and changed, and never a bad smell lingering in her toilet:
"Girls don't poop. Me, never have. Never will. It just doesn't happen. Or, that's what Joe thinks! We've been married for nine years, and he has never once seen or smelled my business. How have I pulled this off? I don't do it when he's around or awake. In an emergency, I have my ways of pooping so he won't hear, smell, or see. It's a challenge."
Talk about walking on the knife! Personally, I'd rather walk off a cliff than be married to someone like that... I understand that some cultures are more, say, traditional when it comes to gender roles. HOWEVER, if that is how love or respect translate in any language, then I'll happily stay single or celibate, thanks.
Is this a culture thing—as the book's title suggests—or simply a brainwashed Gorga thing? You tell me.
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