What's a Woman to Do?

Over at Common Consent, Karen raised what might be called the plight of the Mormon woman: How to deal with the gentle slings or occasional arrows that follow close upon the fortune of being a woman in a patriarchal church? She is not the first to pose the question. There is an online article that considers how other Mormon women have dealt with this and similar questions, entitled Molly Mormons, Mormon Feminists, and Moderates: Religious Diversity and the Latter Day Saints Church, by Lori G. Beamon (Sociology of Religion, Spring 2001). Here is the synopsis:

Based on data from life history interviews with 28 Latter Day Saints women, this paper considers the process of boundary negotiation on two key sites. First, how do Mormon women maintain their autonomy and agency in the context of institutionalized patriarchy. Secondly, how do women make sense of church prescriptions on male authority both within the family and in the church hierarchy. The study reveals that LDS women are not monolithic in their response to these issues, and that they tend to fall into one of three groups -- Molly Mormons, feminists, or moderates. The paper reviews strategies used by Mormon women to negotiate boundaries within their families, the church, and society around four issues: participation in the paid labor force, male headship, the priesthood, and the separation of their faith from decisions made by the male hierarchy of the church.

Comments

[Brenda]

Hi Dave. Brenda here. Friend of Ann's (Writing in the Corner blog).
I started reading Karen's comments to her post about the problems that Mormon women face in the church.
I found it RICH that the first response was from a man who told her that her "answers" were too "pat" because the church heirarchy "clearly states" they don't discriminate against women.
I found it hard to go beyond that because of that old feeling of anger that rises when I used to go to church.
Intriguing topic, though. Thanks for linking to that.

[Dave]

Brenda, in fairness to Steve, I think in that first comment he was sketching out the superficial answers he was expecting others to give to Karen's post, which seems like a confusing way to go about making a comment. His later comments in that thread give a better idea of his own views. I'm a little floored there were 84 comments in one day!

[Brenda]

That's what happens when I don't read the whole thing - I misinterpret. Well, can't say I want to read those comments. It's been a long time since I thought those issues through, and it seems to me there isn't anything I can or want to do about it; I'm only Mormon on paper these days. It blows me away, however, how well Sherri Dew plays the "honor the priesthood" role. When is she going to have her major breakdown? She's overdue :)

[Steve Evans]

Hey Brenda,

Yeah I was the first commenter back to Karen, and Dave's right, I was kind approaching things a little backwards. But you'd be surprised, I think, by some of the comments. Not all as awful as you'd imagine, hopefully.