FORMER VOLLEYBALL STAR GABRIELLE REECE IGNITES CONTROVERSY WITH MARRIAGE ADVICE: BEING ‘SUBMISSIVE’ IS A SIGN OF STRENGTH

From: The Blaze

By Erica Ritz

2-14-2013

(I couldn't agree more with Gabrielle Reece. It doesn't mean a woman is less than the man, as male chauvinist and feminist like to think; but rather that the woman is the help meet to her husband. Women cannot survive with men and likewise men cannot survive without women.-Ruth)

Gabrielle Reece and Laird Hamilton attend ‘The Wave’ book launch party at The Jane Hotel on September 14, 2010 in New York City. (Photo: Getty Images)

Gabrielle Reece, the former volleyball star and model who filed for divorce less than five years after tying the knot to surfer husband Laird Hamilton roughly 17 years ago, recently wrote a book explaining how she got her marriage back on track.

The key? In “My Foot Is Too Big for the Glass Slipper,” Reece credits an “old fashioned dynamic” and abiding by more traditional gender roles — and has created a firestorm in the process.

“To truly be feminine means being soft, receptive, and –- look out, here it comes –- submissive,” she wrote.

Reece elaborated for “Today’s” Natalie Morales:

“I think the idea of living with a partner is ‘How can I make their life better?’  So if I’m the woman and he’s the man, then yes, that’s the dynamic.  I’m willing and I choose to serve my family and my husband, because it creates a dynamic where he is then in fact acting more like a man and masculine, and treating me the way I want to be treated.  Which is — I’d like to be cherished, and I’d like someone to look after me in that role.”

But, perhaps anticipating the coming controversy, she added: “I think because women have the ability to set the tone, that the ultimate strength and showing real power…is creating that environment.  I think it’s a sign of strength.’’