I
remember seeing the original Stepford Wives movie on TV back in the days when
the networks did more made for TV movies. I also have the DVD of the screen
version starring Matthew Broderick and Nicole Kidman.
What was going on in Stepford is also going on in Amway. In the movie the wives
are controlled by their husbands who are always attending men’s club meetings
and are ultimately controlled by one or two men who are the leaders. Depending
on which movie you’re familiar with the women are either murdered and robots
take their place or they have a computer disk inserted in their brain that
controls them.
Either way the women - or keeping up with the times in the newer version which
included a gay couple and zapped one man - become mindless submissive robots
controlled by their husbands. Oh and the wives fawn all over their men with
unnatural over the top devotion and dedication. Very much like zombies.
This is what I saw in the Amway cult.
Men’s club meetings? The Amway meetings were male oriented always led by a male
cult leader. Some wives attended Amway meetings with their husbands. Many men
were single and coming stag to the Amway meetings. Many married men came stag
too after their wives became fed up with the mind control bullshit and losing
money. Some meetings were just men only no women allowed. Who remembers the
clubhouses we had when we were kids and the boys usually had a “girls keep out”
sign hanging outside. Like that. These men only Amway meetings are where the
cult leaders try to cause trouble in their downline’s marriages and destroy
their relationships.
To become a Stepford ambot one must do whatever the scum sucking Amway upline
demands. They have to say the things the upline wants to hear, wear the clothes
the upline wants you to wear, eat the snacks the upline wants you to eat, buy
the things upline wants you to buy, drop whatever you’re doing and rush to the
upline’s side if they beckon, etc, etc.
I have to stop. Sometimes I find it really sickening to relive these memories
but I know by writing them down and sharing the anguish I went through that I
can help others.
Wives had to display this over the top zombie like devotion to their husbands.
Just watch those Ken and Barbie Ambots stomping across the stage at Amway
functions. Barbie might have a few words to say but mostly she stands there
gazing adoringly at Warrior Ken.
I don’t know about the rest of you guys but my husband gets really nervous if
I’m staring him down!
That’s what life is like once you sign up with Amway. Welcome to Stepford!
Leave your brain at the door. You are now an ambot.
The Stepford Wives movie was about social control -- the husbands wanted their wives to be in lockstep unity with them and everyone else around them. Same thoughts, same dreams, same hopes, same attitudes, same reactions, same needs. The satire of the movie was directed against what used to be called "the corporate mentality," which was a way to describe how large American corporations demanded that male employees all have a certain type of wife who would "fit in" with the corporation's public image. A man was quietly urged to divorce his wife if she didn't follow the prescribed pattern.
ReplyDeleteAmway is like that, except in Amway there is a strong ideological motivation behind the demand for conformity. You don't just have to look like "the corporate wife." You have to be fanatically devoted to the entire Amway culture and mindset and lifestyle, and you must always be present to cheerlead the team. In the business world, the "corporate wife" just had to look good, dress well, have uncontroversial hobbies, and know how to make acceptable conversation at company parties. The Amway wife has to be a fanatical, raving, rah-rah-let's-go lunatic like her IBO husband.
There's something else. Amway is at heart a small-town operation, still closely linked with the hayseed mentality of rural America and the Bible Belt. There's a strong emphasis on female obedience to husbands, and the wife as servant and helpmate rather than an equal partner.
No matter how you slice it, women are going to only have a distant third place in Amway, after up-line, Platinums, and Diamonds.
Anonymous - those good Amway wives that you described are out there. With the values that were in place around 1900. Other Ambot wives are pretending because Amway is all about being fake. And then there are the wives like me who don't give a flying fuck and don't care what the fucking assholes in the Amway upline think and we will never conform ourselves to that bullshit.
DeleteAmway is definitely what could be called a good old boy's club. Their wives are more like servants. Those are the values taught at Amway cult meetings. And those Amway losers expect us to fawn all over them and worship them. LOL! Fuck that shit Amway!