I Belong to Me: Tia Levings on Escaping Christian Patriarchy and Reclaiming the Self

What happens when the “perfect Christian wife” decides her life belongs to her after all? In this episode of The Rose Woman Podcast, Christine sits down with Tia Levings, New York Times bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife and I Belong to Me: A Survivor’s Guide to Recovery and Hope after Religious Trauma. Tia writes and speaks about the realities of religious trauma, evangelical patriarchy, and the trad wife life, decoding the fundamentalist influences in our news and culture; her work and quotes have appeared in Teen Vogue, Salon, Newsweek, the Huffington Post, and the hit Amazon docu-series Shiny Happy People. Together, Christine and Tia explore how high-control religion shapes women’s bodies, marriages, motherhood, aging, and even our politics, why the trad wife aesthetic is so seductive right now, what happens when adult children step away from the faith of their families, and how to slowly rebuild a sense of self, boundaries, and spirituality on your own terms. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, Tia is mom to four grown kids and, when she’s not writing or speaking, she loves to travel, hike, paint, and daydream. If you’ve ever felt confined by an ideology, a relationship, or a role you were told to play, this conversation offers language, validation, and a gentle map back to yourself.In this episode, we cover so many topics, including:(00:00:35): Who Is Tia Levings, And Why Religious Trauma Matters(00:05:19): Childhood Move To The South And How A “Normal” Church Led Into High-Control Religion(00:09:21): Inside the organization by Bill Gothard (IBLP) And Tradwife Culture(00:12:28): How High-Control Christianity Glorifies Women’s Suffering While Blocking Real Supports Like Childcare And Healthcare(00:14:29): The Cost To Women(00:17:02): Reclaiming Midlife As A Powerful “Queen Era” Of Women’s Lives(00:19:32): Are Tradwives “Stupid”? How Isolation and Under-Education Protect Patriarchal Systems&nbsp;(00:22:46): Submission as “Discipline” and Why Divorce Can Be A Life-Saving Boundary(00:25:58): Parenting Under Patriarchy(00:30:03): Escaping Abuse and&nbsp; Rebuilding Life(00:35:01): Tradwife Aesthetics, Project 2025 and How Christian Patriarchy Is Moving Into U.S. Politics(00:38:23): Estrangement In Christian Families(00:41:41): Tantric Parenting(00:43:34): New Book: “I Belong To Me”(00:49:23): How To Support People Exiting High-Control Groups(00:56:34): Deconstructing and Reconstructing Spirituality(00:59:29): Living As Your Full Self After ControlHelpful links:Tia Levings - Author of I Belong to Me: A Survivor's Guide to Recovery and Hope after Religious Trauma (St. Martin's Essentials, May 2026) and A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy (St. Martin's Press, 2024)Follow her on @tialevingswriter on Instagram and FacebookSubscribe to tialevings.substack.comShiny Happy People (Amazon Prime docuseries)<a href="https://rosewoman.com/products/the-9-lives-of-woman-sensual-sexual-and-reprodu