Read our series of blog posts on by Mormon feminists across the spectrum of belief
women
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So Many Words for Whore
Do you think English is a sexist language? Many years ago, I graduated with a degree in Linguistics. Sometimes I ruminate on language usage. English usage reflects the culture of sexism ubiquitous among English speakers over many centuries.
A stereotypical man is a strong, confident leader. He is ambitious, decisive, enterprising, determined, independent, and he commands respect. ‘Man up’ means to be brave. The slang term ‘have balls’ also means be courageous. On the other hand ‘like a girl’ is an insult, and the slang term ‘pussy’ means coward.
To insult a man you emasculate him. Call him a feminine term...
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A woman’s place is to rule
During my mission in Europe, we brought an investigator to church and, after the meeting, he told us he wasn’t happy with the way our Church did things. He was disappointed that a woman had given a talk during sacrament meeting. He opened the Bible and flipped to the verses in 1 Cor. 14:34-35 (two of my least favorite verses in the Bible) where it says that women should be silent in church. My companion replied, “that’s not what that means.” If someone asked me this question today, I would say, “This was a cultural thing from the past,...
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Paint your barns, ladies
“You beautiful girls – don’t wander around looking like men. Put on a little lipstick now and then and look a little charming – it’s that simple. I don’t know why we make this whole process so hard.” -Elder M. Russell Ballard
This was the marriage advice Elder Ballard gave at a YSA devotional held in Provo, Utah on October 24, 2015. Interestingly enough, the devotional was recorded and published on LDS.org, but within 24 hours it was taken down from the site. You can still find the clip on YouTube.
A group of women and I...
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Shield and Protection
I have heard stories all my life of how garments miraculously saved someone’s life. There are tales of people surviving fires or horrible accidents, and only suffering injury where garments did not cover them. It is even part of Church History. Willard Richards was the only one of the 4 church leaders at the Carthage Jail who was wearing his garments at the time the mob attacked them. He is the only one who was not injured. Many claim it is because the garments were a literal shield for him. It is rare that anyone refers to John Taylor...
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Deconstructing the P word
About 30 years ago a Utah Valley area authority was giving a talk to a large audience. He spoke of attending a sacrament meeting where a newly baptized family, consisting of parents and several daughters, was being sustained as the newest ward members. The father of this family had been baptized a few weeks earlier. Then he had been ordained to the priesthood so he could baptize his wife and daughters the day before. The bishop of the ward saw this as an opportunity to teach about priesthood authority. After welcoming the family, the bishop invited the youngest daughter,...
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A Priesthood of Half the Believers
There are two major
viewpoints in Christianity regarding priesthood. Though it's a bit
more complex than this, for the sake of simplicity I'll call them the
Catholic view and the Protestant view. Under the Catholic view,
ordination matters. Priests are priests because they have been
consecrated as priests by someone who has been consecrated by someone
who has been consecrated, etc., and priests have power and authority
to do things that regular people don't. Under the Protestant view,
ordination isn't as big of a deal, and many Protestant sects
subscribe to what is referred to as "the priesthood of all
believers". This means that no human intermediary is necessary
to...
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My experience with the new temple changes
When I heard about the temple changes on January 2nd, at first I thought, "This sounds too good to be true. Maybe they're just rumors." I worried that if I went to the temple to see the changes, and found out it wasn't true, I would be sorely disappointed.
After more people confirmed that some great improvements had been made to the temple ceremonies, I was overjoyed. It felt like a huge burden had been lifted from me. A huge, heavy burden that I'd carried on my shoulders for several years. On January 2nd, I felt like I was dreaming....
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Relief Society Lesson: Women and Gospel Learning in the Home by...
This lesson help was first posted at our sister blog, Zelophehad's Daughters, by permablogger Petra.
President Eyring’s Women And Gospel Learning In the Home talk, from October’s General Conference, has been a popular pick for RS lessons over the past few months, at least judging my social media activity. Up until recently, I was a Relief Society teacher, and I chose this talk for my lesson in November. I’m sharing my lesson outline below, with some commentary in case it helps anyone prepare to teach or participate in a class based on this talk.
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Introduction: I try to keep this limited to just...
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Challenging the Internalized Sexism of “Primary Voice”
This weekend’s General Conference is rumored to be “historic.”
One thing will be quite historic: it is the first time that the General Women’s session replaces the Priesthood session on Saturday night of conference weekend. If we still get 1-2 women speakers in the other general sessions, minus the additional men that would usually speak at the Priesthood session, this conference may be the most equitable and record-breaking ratio of men to women speakers we’ve ever had over a conference weekend.
With the likelihood to hear from more women than usual, how do you plan to receive their words? With eagerness and...
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Sacred Music Sunday: God of the Women
Earlier this summer, I attended a small local feminist Catholic mass and one of the hymns we sang was Carolyn Winfrey Gillette's God of the Women. It was extremely touching to sing this with the handful of people there. I've found this video on youtube so you can hear it, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFVpV8tSkmI
Lyrics:
God of the women who answered your call,
Trusting your promises, giving their all,
Women like Sarah and Hannah and Ruth —
Give us their courage to live in your truth.
God of the women who walked Jesus' Way,
Giving their resources, learning to pray,
Mary, Joanna, Susanna, and more —
May we give freely as...
What is Exponent II?
Exponent II provides Mormon feminist forums for women and gender minorities across the Mormon spectrum to share their diverse life experiences in an atmosphere of trust and acceptance. Through these exchanges, we strive to create a community to better understand and support each other.
Exponent II was founded in 1974 by a group of Mormon women in Cambridge, Massachusetts. These women were inspired by the original periodical, “The Woman’s Exponent,” to create a forum “posed on the dual platforms of Mormonism and Feminism.”
For 50+ years, Exponent II has shared women’s voices in its quarterly magazine, and members of the community have convened at an annual retreat. Our reach has expanded as technology has advanced: the blog, founded in January 2006, has reached millions. As we look to the future, we are focused on growth and building a more inclusive community.
