Some topics, like if and how to wear garments, divide Mormon women. But I’ve started to wonder, might a shared love for romance novels be the thing that unites us all?
Why do we keep writing about garments? Because there are few things as close to our hearts (metaphorically) and our genitals (literally) as garments.
When you have digestive issues, doctors will sometimes recommend returning to a very basic, bland diet. The idea is to
“I think the real solution is not in better design, it’s in eliminating the garment wearing mandate. Even a badly designed garment can be tolerable or even spiritually uplifting when worn in appropriate circumstances, like while doing a mostly sedentary religious ceremony inside an air-conditioned building. Forcing every person to wear the garment at all the times during every activity is the root cause of most of the health and psychological issues. So it is unfortunate that this welcome change in design is accompanied by a backward facing retrenchment in the 24/7 garment wearing mandate.”
This open-themed issue reveals the things our writers are thinking about, puzzling over, and processing without a specific prompt. Their voices invite us to reflect on what we, too, are going through at this individual yet collective moment in time.
Blogger Heidi Toth was prepared for some light TV and maybe heavy conversations when she sat down with friends to watch “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” She wasn’t prepared for how undercurrents of the show reflected her own deconstructing experience back to her.
Rather than airing grievances that these women used a title that the church disowned, I think the kinder, wiser action is to recognize the complexity and diverse ways that women cope with objectification, the church’s history of polygamy, and the current threat eternal polygamy poses for the modern LDS woman and her felt sense of safety in her marriage.
Blogger Kaylee writes “The temple ceremony currently requires participants to fit into one side or the other of a gender binary. Jesus does not fit on either side of that binary because of his association with the veil and the garment.”
One day will we meet in heaven? Will you condemn me or embrace me? I hope we can hold each other — in sadness, in joy, in fullness.
“All my mom saw was that I was no longer wearing my garments and testified to me that there was spiritual power in them. She saw my choice as a departure from my covenants, unaware of the deeper context of my struggle. The irony was not lost on me: while she criticized the women in the park for their attire [the hijab]—assuming a lack of personal freedom—she simultaneously judged me for not adhering to my own tradition’s instructions regarding religious clothing. It was a stark reminder of how complex wearing our temple garments is.”
Exponent II provides 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.
