On his Christian Broadcasting Network show tonight, Pat Robertson saw fit to give advice to a woman who said her husband's “actions” are “starting to get to” her, fearing that he may soon start to cheat because he “loves to talk with other women he finds attractive.” Robertson, whose views on marriage and women have been fairly well documented, replied: “Anne, first thing is you need to make yourself as attractive as possible and don't hassle him about it.”
Seriously.
But wait, there's more. He also advised the woman that she needs to make sure “to not drive [her husband] away or start hassling and hounding on him” and added: "[M]ake yourself as beautiful as you can, as fun as you can, and say let's go out here, let's go there, let's go to the other thing."
From tonight's edition of The 700 Club:
TERRY MEEUWSEN (co-host): Pat, this is from Anne who says, “My husband has always been a flirt and loves to talk with other women he finds attractive. He says he would never cheat on me but his actions are starting to get to me. What should I do?
ROBERTSON: Anne, first thing is you need to make yourself as attractive as possible and don't hassle him about it. And why is he doing this? Well, he's doing it because he wants affirmation that he is still a man, that he is attractive -- and he gets an affirmation of himself. That means he's got an inferiority complex that's coming out. And he's not gonna cheat on you. He's just playing.
But you need to not drive him away or start hassling and hounding on him, but make yourself as beautiful as you can, as fun as you can, and say let's go out here, let's go there, let's go to the other thing. So -- and Terry disagrees.
MEEUWSEN: That's a lot more grace than I do, Anne. Let me just say we'd be having a serious conversation.
ROBERTSON: Affirmation. Affirmation, dear heart.
This really shouldn't surprise anyone, considering Robertson has reportedly stated that once women get married -- as “painful” as it is “for the ladies to hear” -- “you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period.” He has also claimed that “the feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” Robertson has also reportedly written that "[w]omen should listen and learn quietly and submissively," and “I do not let women teach men or have authority over them.”
Robertson made headlines in January for saying that Haitians had been hit with a major earthquake because they had “swor[n] a pact to the devil” to get “free from the French” and that “ever since, they have been cursed.”