Belief

How can women be full partners when men will not promote them from associates? How can women organize when men must authorize every action? How can women inspire when they are crushed by patriarchy?

I do hope, however, that this call to civility and love does not encourage people to avoid all difficult topics or advocacy. It's far too easy to say, "I am not political," or "I don't care about politics," or "I only focus on the good" to achieve peace. This peace comes at a great cost, however. And the people who pay that cost are often those who experience the daily costs of systemic racism, sexism, bigotry, and classism.

“I am a witness by being absent,” Wendy declares, giving vivid despair to the realization of my role as a woman in this patriarchal church. What brings her peace brings me grief.

Guest Post by Alma Frances Pellet. Alma is a software developer and living her dream of being a stay-at-home mom to the three remaining...

I started to hear that the temple ceremony had been updated - again. My friends were saying that Christ was more prominently featured and that things were explained more clearly.  I heard an older woman in my ward saying, “I wish we’d had this all along. Everything would have been so much easier to understand.

Women theoretically don't get the priesthood because our all consuming role here on earth is to just be mothers. We can't be distracted in any way from nurturing and caring for our children, not even by being able to give them a blessing when they're sick because that would somehow be too big of a distraction from our real purpose - nurturing them. But the instant we leave this earth life and become exalted mothers in heaven, all nurturing will stop immediately. We will turn that role over to our husbands. He will listen to our children's prayers, send them comfort, and provide guidance. It's a good thing we didn't waste time practicing priesthood power on earth, because we needed all the practice nurturing we could get in order to... let our husbands take over that job too for the rest of eternity. Women are preparing for an eternity of doing absolutely nothing.

The kinds of creative navigation of choices that I have seen discussed and modeled in Mormon feminism have served me well in life. I can acquiesce to expectations, I can resist expectations, I can create or find other options that allow me to preserve my integrity.

I rarely attend Sunday School anymore. LDS Sunday School is for sharing comfortable, pat answers created to support doctrinal cohesion. We do not meet...