The Total Woman

{{Short description|Non-fiction book}} {{infobox book| | name = The Total Woman | image = The Total Woman book.jpg | caption = First edition | author = Marabel Morgan | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United States | language = English | subject = Marriage | publisher = Revell | pub_date = 1973 | media_type = Print (hardback and paperback) | pages = 336 | isbn = | oclc = | congress = | preceded_by = | followed_by = | genre = Self-help }}

'''''The Total Woman''''' is a self-help book for married women by Marabel Morgan published in 1973. The book sold over 500,000 copies within the first year, making it the most successful non-fiction book in the U.S. in 1974.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20040322/26495-the-stakes-rise-for-chart-toppers.html|title=The Stakes Rise for Chart Toppers|first=Daisy|last=Maryles |website=PublishersWeekly.com}}</ref> Overall, it sold more than ten million copies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4651272&page=1|work=ABC News|title=Christians Promote Holy, Hot Sex in Marriage|first=Susan|last=Donaldson James|date=April 16, 2009|access-date=December 29, 2021|quote="One of the first books to address the issue was Marabel Morgan's "The Total Woman," which sold more than 10 million copies to women of all religious persuasions, making it the best-selling nonfiction book of 1974.}}</ref> Grounded in evangelical Christianity, it taught that "''A Total Woman'' caters to her man's special quirks, whether it be in salads, sex, or sports,"<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,947281-2,00.html|title= The Sexes: The New Housewife Blues|magazine=Time|date=March 14, 1977|access-date=December 29, 2021}}</ref> and is perhaps best remembered for instructing wives to greet their man at the front door wearing sexy outfits; suggestions included "a cowgirl or a showgirl." "It's only when a woman surrenders her life to her husband, reveres and worships him and is willing to serve him, that she becomes really beautiful to him," Morgan wrote.

==Inspiration and development== In 1970, Morgan founded Total Woman, Inc., a company that was concerned with marketing this idea. From then on, she gave seminars for Christian-oriented married women about how they should conduct themselves in deference towards their husbands. The seminars consisted of four two-hour sessions for $15. After several years, she had trained more than 100 instructors, who gave further courses in 28 states and Canada. By 1975, there were over 15,000 graduates, including singer Anita Bryant, the wives of Jack Nicklaus and Joe Frazier, and 12 wives of players on the Miami Dolphins football team.

Morgan wrote her four basic ideas – ignoring the mistakes of the husband and focusing on his virtues, admiring him physically, appreciating him, and adapting to the idea that the husband was the king and his wife was the queen – down in a book, ''The Total Woman''. It was published in December 1973 by the small publishing house Fleming H. Revell Company, a subsidiary of the evangelically-oriented Baker Publishing Group. The first printing was 5,000 copies. The book sold over 500,000 copies within the first year, making it the best-selling non-fiction book in the U.S. in 1974. The paperback rights were sold for over $600,000.

==In popular culture== This book and its ideas were mentioned and satirized in the 1977 ''Maude'' episode "Feminine Fulfillment" (season 5, episode 19).

The book was also satirized on Saturday Night Live, season 3, episode 7 (Dec. 10, 1977), hosted by Mary Kay Place.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Marabel_Morgan Marabel Morgan], ''ohiohistorycentral.org'' * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140808064948/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1985-09-11/features/8502070975_1_woman-hammock-room-table Totally Marabel], ''sun-sentinel.com'' * [http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20065122,00.html Marabel & Charlie Morgan: Being a Total Woman May Mean Love Under the Dinner Table], ''people.com'' * [http://footenotes.net/Pages/Housewife.htm The New Housewife Blues], ''footenotes.net''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Total Woman, The}} Category:1973 non-fiction books Category:Self-help books Category:American non-fiction books Category:English-language non-fiction books