You know how to open worm cans, Grish. :-)

To address the inevitable questions and protests, those made and those yet to be made, the Biblical picture of marriage is not about leading and following, commanding and obeying. It paints an asymmetrical picture of marriage (because while we can certainly say the sexes are "equal" it cannot be said that they are "equivalent"; God made each for a different purpose, and that is what is being taken into account), yet "partnership" is still the best word to describe it. Husbands are told to "love" their wives, and wives are told to "submit" to their husbands. But one must use the biblical definition of "love" (and of "submit," for that matter) to interpret a biblical use of it. The command is a powerful one, essentially instructing a husband to place his wife's needs above his own in all things. Deny himself to give to her. One who therefore calls the husband in a biblically-based marriage the "leader" of a marriage may be accurate in some sense but likely does not understand the full picture and certainly isn't conveying it. The husband's call is to serve. When marriages go wrong (at least, so the pastors I've talked to who counsel couples frequently seem to say), it is more often the fault of the husbands, not the wives, failing to understand and follow through on their responsibilities in marriage. Certainly a husband who feels he has a biblically-based right to boss his wife around is sorely mistaken, to the detriment of both.

Not that I expect anyone who isn't a Christian to accept this model of marriage in any case, but in a world where sexism is prevalent and so many issues concerning gender roles are hot button issues that cause people to react rather than consider, I at least don't want anyone to misunderstand *before* discounting it.