James Dobson

=== Views on marriage ===
James Dobson is a strong proponent of marriage defined as "one where husband and wife are lawfully married, are committed to each other for life," and have a [[homemaking|homemaker]] mother and [[Breadwinner model|breadwinner]] father.<ref>{{cite book |first1=James C. |last1=Dobson |first2=Gary L. |last2=Bauer |title=Children at Risk |year=1994 |pages=119, 122}}</ref> According to his view, women are not deemed inferior to men because both are created in God's image, but each gender has biblically mandated roles.<ref>{{cite web |last=Dobson |first=James |title=Why Boys Are So Different |publisher=[[Focus on the Family]] |year=2001 |url=http://www.focusonyourchild.com/develop/art1/A0000716.html |access-date=2007-09-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006062936/http://www.focusonyourchild.com/develop/art1/A0000716.html |archive-date=2007-10-06}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=June 2023}} He recommends that married women with children under the age of 18 focus on mothering, rather than work outside the home.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://family.custhelp.com./cgi-bin/family.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=974 |title=Is it important for mothers to stay home during the teen years? |publisher=Focus on the Family |first=James |last=Dobson |access-date=2008-06-20}}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

Dobson views marriage as a transaction in which women exchange sex for protection:<ref name=Johnson1998 />
{{Blockquote
|text=The natural sex appeal of girls serves as their primary source of bargaining power in the game of life. In exchange for feminine affection and love, a man accepts a girl as his lifetime responsibility-supplying her needs and caring for her welfare. This sexual aspect of the marital agreement can hardly be denied.<ref name=Johnson1998 />
|author=James Dobson
|source=''Dare to Discipline'' (1970)
}}

He advises wives to use their social and sexual skills to coerce their husbands into becoming good partners. By doing this, according to Dobson, women will transform male lust into love, and male destructive impulses into useful accomplishments. Hence heterosexual marriage is the cornerstone of civilization, in Dobson's view, when women fulfill their role of civilizing their husbands.<ref name=Johnson1998 />{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=98–99}}

In his 2004 book ''[[Marriage Under Fire]]'', Dobson suggests that heterosexual marriage rates in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have been falling, and that this is due to the recognition of [[same-sex relationship]]s by those countries during the 1990s. He remarks that the "institution of marriage in those countries is rapidly dying" as a result, with most young people [[cohabitation|cohabiting]] or choosing to remain single (living alone) and illegitimacy rates rising in some Norwegian counties up to 80%.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mnmarriage.com/docs/Why%20We%20Must%20Win%20This%20Battle.pdf |title=Why We Must Win This Battle |website=mnmarriage.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714104739/http://www.mnmarriage.com/docs/Why%20We%20Must%20Win%20This%20Battle.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-14 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Dobson writes that "every civilization in the world" has been built upon marriage.<ref>Dobson, James C. ''Marriage under fire: why we must win this war.'' Sisters, Or. : Multnomah Publishers, 2004. quoted in McManus, Mike and Harriet McManus. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4QZA_AzsR2oC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77 Living together: myths, risks, and answers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119190737/https://books.google.com/books?id=4QZA_AzsR2oC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77 |date=January 19, 2023 }}''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008.</ref> He also believes that homosexuality is neither a choice nor genetic, but is caused by external factors during early childhood.<ref name=msnbc05>{{cite web |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0611/22/lkl.01.html |title=Interview With Dr. James Dobson |first=Larry |last=King |publisher=CNN |date=2006-11-22 |access-date=2010-11-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629135156/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0611/22/lkl.01.html |archive-date=2011-06-29 |url-status=live}}</ref> He anecdotally cites as evidence the life of actress [[Anne Heche]],<ref name=msnbc06>{{cite web |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8234503 |title='Healed' by God: Evangelical group sponsors conference on nature of gays |first=Alex |last=Johnson |publisher=[[NBC News]] |date=2005-06-23 |access-date=2008-06-21 |archive-date=November 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123091427/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8234503 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=stranger05 /> who was previously in a relationship with [[Ellen DeGeneres]]. Criticizing "the realities of judicial tyranny," Dobson has written that "[t]here is no issue today that is more significant to our culture than the defense of the family. Not even the war on terror eclipses it."{{Citation needed|date= October 2015}}

Critics have stated that Dobson's views on homosexuality do not represent the [[Homosexuality and psychology|mainstream views]] of the mental health community, with Dan Gilgoff referring to the positions of the [[American Psychiatric Association]] and the [[American Psychological Association]] on homosexuality.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gilgoff |first=Dan |title=The Jesus Machine How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America Are Winning the Culture War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MdeHmAEACAAJ |year=2008 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]] |isbn=9780312378448 |pages=56 |access-date=January 4, 2021 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119190739/https://books.google.com/books?id=MdeHmAEACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dudley |first=Jonathan |title=Broken Words The Misfortunes of Science and Scripture in Evangelical Politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UHIWXheyNuEC |year=2011 |publisher=[[Random House]] |isbn=9780385525268 |pages=69 |access-date=January 4, 2021 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119190743/https://books.google.com/books?id=UHIWXheyNuEC |url-status=live }}</ref>