patriarchal panic: sexual politics in the mormon church

[niyad]

PATRIARCHAL PANIC: SEXUAL POLITICS IN THE MORMON CHURCH
September 1, 1979
Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Meetings, New York City
Sonia Johnson, Ed.D
Chair, MORMONS FOR ERA



Sexual politics is old hat in the Mormon Church. It was flourishing when my grandparents were infants, crossing the plains to Utah in covered wagons. Although different generations have developed their own peculiar variations on the theme, I believe my generation is approaching the ultimate confrontation, for which all the others were simply dress rehearsals. Mormon sexual politics today is an uneasy mixture of explosive phenomena: the recent profound disenfranchisement of Mormon women by Church leaders, the Church�s sudden strong political presence in the anti-ERA arena and the women�s movement.

Saturated as it is with the anti-female bias that is patriarchy�s very definition and reason for being, the Mormon Church can legitimately be termed "The Last Unmitigated Western Patriarchy." (I know you Catholics and Jews in this audience will want to argue with that but I will put my patriarchs up against yours any day!) This patriarchal imperative is reinforced by the belief that the President of the Church is a Prophet of God, as were Isaiah and Moses, and that God will not allow him to make a mistake in guiding the Church. He is, therefore, if not doctrinally, in practice "infallible"�deified. Commonly heard thought-obliterating dicta in my Church are "When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done" and "when the Prophet speaks, the debate is ended." They forget to mention that the debate probably never even got started since in the Church there is little dialogue or real education. Indoctrination is the prime method of instruction because obedience is the contemporary Church�s prime message.

The caliber of character forged by this "education to obey" is illustrated by an encounter we had two summers ago [1977] in Lafayette Square after the national ERA march in Washington, D.C. Several of us were accosted by two Brigham Young University students, former missionaries for the Church, who tried to tear down our MORMONS FOR ERA banner. During the ensuing discussion, they solemnly vowed that if the Prophet told them to go out and shoot all Black people, they would do so without hesitation.

Another example: Under the Heavenly mandate against the Equal Rights Amendment, Mormons in Virginia last winter [1978], wearing their EQUALITY YES, ERA NO! buttons (a typical boggling example of patriarchal doublethink), lobbied not only against the ERA but against ALL bills for women�many of which were models of their kind.

. . .

http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon415.htm

[enough]

1. It would be intereting to know what Sonia Johnson would have to say

about the current situation, three decades later. Has there been significant change, or not?

[niyad]

3. I was looking to see if she has had anything to say recently, but have found nothing so far.

back then, they were trying to stay sort of quiet--now they are taking every bit of limelight then can get.

[Angry Dragon]

2. sounds like a cult to me

[OregonBlue]

4. Here are some of their beliefs. Sounds like a cult to me.

They believe that God lives near a star called Kolob.
They believe in baptizing dead people.
They believe that men become gods.
They believe that Mormon god/men will each own a personal planet after they die.
They believe that women become goddesses after they die and go to their husband’s personal planet.
They believe that women goddesses will spend eternity in full submission to their god-husband.
They believe men can have multiple wives in heaven and carry on multiple sexual relations throughout eternity, until they have enough children to populate their own planet.
They believe that women will give birth forever and ever to spirit-babies.
They believe that Jesus is married to a goddess wife or wives.
They believe that Jesus has children from his wives.
They believe that The Garden of Eden was in Missouri.
They believe that it was impossible for blacks to go to heaven before 1978.

Not so great for women. They get to serve their husbands for eternity, bearing spirit children to populate his personal planet.

Thanks but no thanks!!

[Cooley Hurd]

5. I've wanted to own my own planet since becoming aware of Republicans...

[aquart]

6. What religion says a good wife gets to be her husband's footstool in Heaven?

All our leading faiths are patriarchal. At least six thousand years of bully boy triumph.

[Brother Buzz]

7. Brigham Young’s Great-Great-Granddaughter speaks out

Exclusive: Brigham Young’s Great-Great-Granddaughter on Mormonism and Mitt Romney

Sue Emmett is Mormon royalty. Her great-great-grandfather was Brigham Young, the founder of Salt Lake City, first governor of Utah, and president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) from 1847 until his death in 1877.

<snip>

Emmett has watched Mitt Romney very closely throughout his public life and has strong opinions about what shaped his personality and his character. “Mitt is a product not only of his wealth, but of an organization that gives men power when they are 12 years old,” she says. “That is when boys are ordained with the priesthood. It is a big moment in a Mormon male’s childhood.”

As for what pundits say is Romney's difficulty connecting with people, Emmett blames it largely on what she calls “the entitled Mormon male syndrome, where the leadership professes compassion and concern but leaves the manifestations of that to the drones. All male leadership is not this way; there are some wonderful men who do their best to exercise their power compassionately, but many do not.”

Emmett says Romney was a bishop, “a position where everyone defers to you. What a bishop says goes. People come to them to receive blessings.” He then became a stake president, she says, which means he presided over several congregations, and at that point bishops deferred to him.

“Mitt has had people defer to him and not challenge him his entire life,” says Emmett. “In the Mormon church if you challenge your priesthood leaders it’s a very bad thing to do, especially for women. As the world can now see, Mitt has a very hard time with being questioned and criticized; he’s had so little of this in his life."

<more>


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/07/exclusive-brigham-young-s-great-great-granddaughter-on-mormonism-and-mitt-romney.html

[niyad]

8. would you mind posting this as a separate thread--her comments on mitt are critical

[Brother Buzz]

9. It's cycled through DU at least twice

I simply thought it added some background to your thread. If you think it merits another visit, go for it.

[niyad]

10. I had not seen it before, and yes, I think it merits another visit. thank you for posting, it was

very good background.