The Obedient Wives Club: for better or for worse
A club that teaches brides how to keep their husbands happy in bed has sparked outrage in Malaysia by claiming that women should take the blame for domestic violence and spousal infidelity, reports Liz Gooch.
THIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN POST MAGAZINE ON JUNE 26, 2011.
With tiaras perched atop headscarves, 10 young brides are seated beside their grooms at a long table adorned with yellow and white flowers. The young couples were all married recently and are in this function room, at a golf club on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, to celebrate their nuptials.
However, that is not the only reason they have come here this morning - the young women are dedicating themselves to becoming not just wives, but good wives. And the key to becoming a good wife, according to those who have organised the event, is simple: obey your husband.
To be precise, have dinner waiting for him when he gets home; make sure the children are tucked up in bed; dress in sexy clothes; smell nice; and be ready to meet his every sexual need.
'The wife should entertain the husband more than the first-class prostitute,' says Fauziah Ariffin, the president of the Malaysian branch of the Obedient Wives Club, a group that has stoked controversy by blaming women for domestic violence, divorce and pushing their husbands into the arms of prostitutes. Organisers claim that if wives would only be more sexually obliging, the world would be free of 'social ills'.
Established by a Malaysian company that has links to a banned Islamic sect and runs a group that promotes polygamy, the club invited the 10 young couples as special guests to its launch earlier this month.