Mormon feminism: Difference between revisions
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After the consolidation of the ''[[Relief Society Magazine]]'' into the ''[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]]'' in 1970, an independent publication calling itself [[Exponent II]] was started in 1974 by several [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]-area women, including [[Laurel Thatcher Ulrich]] and [[Claudia Bushman]]. The magazine focused on the experiences of Mormon women from a feminist perspective.<ref>Barlow, Rich, [http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/06/17/a_feminist_look_at_the_mormon_faith/ "A Feminist Look at the Mormon Faith"], ''[[Boston Globe]]'', 2006-06-17; accessed on 2008-03-27.</ref> However, in the 1970s, the LDS Church came out against the [[Equal Rights Amendment]]. [[Sonia Johnson]]<ref>{{cite web|url = http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/equal-rights-gay-rights-and-the-mormon-church/|title = Equal Rights, Gay Rights and the Mormon Church|date = |accessdate = |website = New York Times|publisher = |last = Young|first = Niel}}</ref> fought against the church in support of the ERA and was excommunicated; a December 1979 excommunication letter claimed that Johnson was charged with a variety of misdeeds, including hindering the worldwide missionary program, damaging internal Mormon social programs, and teaching false doctrine.<ref>[[Linda Sillitoe|Sillitoe, Linda]], [https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/019-35-43.pdf "Church Politics and Sonia Johnson: The Central Conundrum"], ''[[Sunstone Magazine]]'', Issue No: 19, January–February, 1980.</ref> |
After the consolidation of the ''[[Relief Society Magazine]]'' into the ''[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]]'' in 1970, an independent publication calling itself [[Exponent II]] was started in 1974 by several [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]-area women, including [[Laurel Thatcher Ulrich]] and [[Claudia Bushman]]. The magazine focused on the experiences of Mormon women from a feminist perspective.<ref>Barlow, Rich, [http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/06/17/a_feminist_look_at_the_mormon_faith/ "A Feminist Look at the Mormon Faith"], ''[[Boston Globe]]'', 2006-06-17; accessed on 2008-03-27.</ref> However, in the 1970s, the LDS Church came out against the [[Equal Rights Amendment]]. [[Sonia Johnson]]<ref>{{cite web|url = http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/equal-rights-gay-rights-and-the-mormon-church/|title = Equal Rights, Gay Rights and the Mormon Church|date = |accessdate = |website = New York Times|publisher = |last = Young|first = Niel}}</ref> fought against the church in support of the ERA and was excommunicated; a December 1979 excommunication letter claimed that Johnson was charged with a variety of misdeeds, including hindering the worldwide missionary program, damaging internal Mormon social programs, and teaching false doctrine.<ref>[[Linda Sillitoe|Sillitoe, Linda]], [https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/019-35-43.pdf "Church Politics and Sonia Johnson: The Central Conundrum"], ''[[Sunstone Magazine]]'', Issue No: 19, January–February, 1980.</ref> |
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In 1993, [[Maxine Hanks]], [[Lynne Kanavel Whitesides]], and [[Lavina Fielding Anderson]] spoke out for women's rights and were excommunicated from the LDS Church as a part of the "[[September Six]]".{{ |
In 1993, [[Maxine Hanks]], [[Lynne Kanavel Whitesides]], and [[Lavina Fielding Anderson]] spoke out for women's rights and were excommunicated from the LDS Church as a part of the "[[September Six]]".{{ |date = 2015}} [[Joanna Brooks]] left the church because of this event, but later came back and spoke out for women's rights. The [[Feminist Mormon Housewives]] group was started during the 2004 presidential election as a place to discuss the founder's liberal, feminist views.<ref>{{cite web | title=Feminist Mormon uses blog to spread message | author=Riley, Duncan | authorlink=Duncan Riley | work=The Blog Herald | date=March 28, 2005 | url=http://www.blogherald.com/2005/03/28/feminists-mormon-uses-blog-to-spread-message/ | accessdate=2009-04-28}}</ref><ref name=trib>{{cite news | author=Stack, Peggy Fletcher |authorlink=Peggy Fletcher Stack | title=LDS Web site offers 'a safe place to be feminist and faithful' | date=October 6, 2007 | work=[[Salt Lake Tribune]] | url=http://uscmediareligion.org/?theStory&sID=280 | accessdate=2009-04-27}}</ref> [[Neylan McBaine]] founded and is the editor-in-chief of ''[[The Mormon Women Project]]''<ref>{{cite web|publisher = NeylanMcBaine.com|url = http://www.neylanmcbaine.com/about-neylan.html|title = About Neylan|accessdate = April 29, 2011|first = Neylan|last = McBaine}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|publisher = [[Salt Lake Tribune]]|url = http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50080435-76/women-church-mormon-lds.html.csp|title = Mormon feminism: It’s back|first = Peggy Fletcher|last = Stack|authorlink = Peggy Fletcher Stack|date = September 28, 2010}}</ref> which supports feminist views from a more orthodox and believing framework. In 2013, [[Jean A. Stevens]] became the first woman to pray in an LDS Church [[General Conference (LDS Church)|general conference]] session.<ref name="PFS">[[Peggy Fletcher Stack]], [http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56116507-78/general-prayer-stevens-church.html.csp "First prayer by woman offered at Mormon conference"], ''[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]'', 2013-04-06.</ref><ref name="latimes">David Kelly, [http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-mormon-church-women-prayer-20130406,0,2620140.story "In rare event, woman leads prayer at major Mormon conference"], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', 2013-04-06.</ref><ref name="jezebel">Doug Barry, [http://jezebel.com/5993944/woman-leads-mormons-in-prayer-for-the-first-time-in-forever "Woman Leads Mormons in Prayer for the First Time in Forever"], ''[[Jezebel (website)|Jezebel]]'', 2013-04-06.</ref> In 2013, [[Kate Kelly (feminist)|Kate Kelly]] started the [[Ordain Women]] website to host profiles of individuals calling for the ordination of Mormon women;<ref>{{citation |url= http://religiondispatches.org/ordain-women-transforms-mormon-feminism/ |title= Ordain Women Transforms Mormon Feminism |first= Holly |last= Welker |date= March 16, 2014 |journal= [[Religion Dispatches]] }}</ref> she was excommunicated in June 2014.<ref name=Walsh>{{citation |first= Tad |last= Walsh |url= http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865605646/LDS-bishop-excommunicates-Ordain-Women-founder.html |title= LDS bishop excommunicates Ordain Women founder |newspaper= [[Deseret News]] |date= June 23, 2014}}</ref> Specifically, on June 23, 2014, Kelly's bishop informed her that she had been excommunicated ''in absentia''.<ref name=Walsh>{{citation |first= Tad |last= Walsh |url= http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865605646/LDS-bishop-excommunicates-Ordain-Women-founder.html |title= LDS bishop excommunicates Ordain Women founder |newspaper= [[Deseret News]] |date= June 23, 2014}}</ref> The letter states that Kelly's excommunication was due not to her personal beliefs, but her “aggressive effort to persuade other Church members to [her] point of view and that [her] course of action has threatened to erode the faith of others,” including “Six Discussions” aimed at other church members.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/local/letter-to-kate-kelly/1118/ |title=Letter to Kate Kelly - The Washington Post |publisher=Apps.washingtonpost.com |date=2014-06-30 |accessdate=2015-08-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Fletcher |first=Peggy |url=http://www.sltrib.com/57978283-78 |title=Utah Local News - Salt Lake City News, Sports, Archive - The Salt Lake Tribune |publisher=Sltrib.com |date= |accessdate=2015-08-20}}</ref> In 2015, the LDS Church appointed women to its executive councils for the first time. The church appointed [[Linda K. Burton]], president of the [[Relief Society]], [[Rosemary Wixom]], president of the [[Primary (LDS Church)|Primary]], and [[Bonnie L. Oscarson]], president of the [[Young Women (organization)|Young Women’s]] organization, to three high-level church councils (one woman to each).<ref>{{cite web|author=Associated Press |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/20/mormon-church-makes-first-ever-appointments-of-women-to-councils |title=Mormon church makes first ever appointments of women to councils | World news |publisher=The Guardian |date=August 19, 2015|accessdate=2015-08-20}}</ref><ref name=MEC>{{cite news |url= http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865634860/In-a-significant-move-women-to-join-key-leading-LDS-Church-councils.html |title= In a significant move, women to join key, leading LDS Church councils |last= Walch |first= Tad |date= 18 August 2015 |newspaper= [[Deseret News]] }}.</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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Revision as of 04:40, 6 September 2015
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Mormon feminism is a feminist movement concerned with the role of women within Mormonism. Mormon feminists advocate for a more significant recognition of Heavenly Mother, the ordination of women, gender equality, and social justice grounded in Mormon theology and history. The modern form of the movement has roots that go back to the founding of Mormonism, including the largely independent operation of the female Relief Society, priesthood blessings by women in early church history, and the women's suffrage movement in the western United States.
History
The first wave of Mormon feminism embraced many of the ideas of liberal feminism that were a product of the Enlightenment, i.e., "the authority of individual reason, equality of the sexes, [and] rational/legal concerns such as the right to vote." [1] In the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), early feminist assertions surfaced in the 1840s with the founding of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, Illinois, with Emma Hale Smith as its first president. Eliza R. Snow promoted the idea of a Heavenly Mother[2] and equal status for women. Women were first included in Mormon prayer circles on September 28, 1843.[3] The Woman's Exponent was a periodical published from 1872 until 1914 in Salt Lake City whose purpose was to uplift and strengthen women of the LDS Church[4] and to educate those not of the Mormon faith about the women of Mormonism. With some help from the Relief Society, the Utah Territory was at the forefront of women's suffrage; in 1870, it became one of the first states or territories in the Union to grant women the vote,[5] though the federal government removed the franchise from women in 1887 via the Edmunds–Tucker Act.
After the consolidation of the Relief Society Magazine into the Ensign in 1970, an independent publication calling itself Exponent II was started in 1974 by several Cambridge, Massachusetts-area women, including Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and Claudia Bushman. The magazine focused on the experiences of Mormon women from a feminist perspective.[6] However, in the 1970s, the LDS Church came out against the Equal Rights Amendment. Sonia Johnson[7] fought against the church in support of the ERA and was excommunicated; a December 1979 excommunication letter claimed that Johnson was charged with a variety of misdeeds, including hindering the worldwide missionary program, damaging internal Mormon social programs, and teaching false doctrine.[8]
In 1993, Maxine Hanks, Lynne Kanavel Whitesides, and Lavina Fielding Anderson spoke out for women's rights and were excommunicated from the LDS Church as a part of the "September Six".[9]. Two other prominent feminist writers, Janice Merrill Allred and her sister Margaret Toscano, were also involved in courts at the time, but not excommunicated until 1995 and 2000 respectively[10][11]. Joanna Brooks left the church because of this event, but later came back and spoke out for women's rights. The Feminist Mormon Housewives group was started during the 2004 presidential election as a place to discuss the founder's liberal, feminist views.[12][13] Neylan McBaine founded and is the editor-in-chief of The Mormon Women Project[14][15] which supports feminist views from a more orthodox and believing framework. In 2013, Jean A. Stevens became the first woman to pray in an LDS Church general conference session.[16][17][18] In 2013, Kate Kelly started the Ordain Women website to host profiles of individuals calling for the ordination of Mormon women;[19] she was excommunicated in June 2014.[20] Specifically, on June 23, 2014, Kelly's bishop informed her that she had been excommunicated in absentia.[20] The letter states that Kelly's excommunication was due not to her personal beliefs, but her “aggressive effort to persuade other Church members to [her] point of view and that [her] course of action has threatened to erode the faith of others,” including “Six Discussions” aimed at other church members.[21][22] In 2015, the LDS Church appointed women to its executive councils for the first time. The church appointed Linda K. Burton, president of the Relief Society, Rosemary Wixom, president of the Primary, and Bonnie L. Oscarson, president of the Young Women’s organization, to three high-level church councils (one woman to each).[23][24]
See also
Notes
- ^ Hanks, Maxine. "Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism". Signature Books. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
- ^ Wilcox, Linda (1992), "The Mormon Concept of a Mother in Heaven", Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism, Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books
- ^ Michael, Quinn, D. (Fall 1978). Tate, Jr., Charles D (ed.). Latter-day Saint Prayer Circles (PDF). Vol. 19. Provo, Utah: BYU Studies. pp. 84 & 105. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Sherilyn Cox Bennion, "The Woman's Exponent: Forty-two Years of Speaking for Women," Utah Historical Quarterly 44:3 (Summer 1976): 226
- ^ Bradley, Martha Sonntag (2005), Pedestals and Podiums: Utah Women, Religious Authority, and Equal Rights, Signature Books
- ^ Barlow, Rich, "A Feminist Look at the Mormon Faith", Boston Globe, 2006-06-17; accessed on 2008-03-27.
- ^ Young, Niel. "Equal Rights, Gay Rights and the Mormon Church". New York Times.
- ^ Sillitoe, Linda, "Church Politics and Sonia Johnson: The Central Conundrum", Sunstone Magazine, Issue No: 19, January–February, 1980.
- ^ Stromberg, Lorie Winder (2015). "The Birth of Ordain Women". In Shepherd, Gordon; Anderson, Lavina Fielding; Shepherd, Gary (eds.). Voices for Equality: Ordain Women and Resurgent Mormon Feminism. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-58958-758-8.
{{cite book}}: More than one of|pages=and|page=specified (help) - ^ Stack, Peggy Fletcher (5/16/2013). "A Mormon mystery returns: Who is Heavenly Mother?". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 9/15/2015.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ Toscano, Margaret. "The Mormons, Interviews". pbs.com. Retrieved 9/5/2015.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Riley, Duncan (March 28, 2005). "Feminist Mormon uses blog to spread message". The Blog Herald. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
- ^ Stack, Peggy Fletcher (October 6, 2007). "LDS Web site offers 'a safe place to be feminist and faithful'". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
- ^ McBaine, Neylan. "About Neylan". NeylanMcBaine.com. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
- ^ Stack, Peggy Fletcher (September 28, 2010). "Mormon feminism: It's back". Salt Lake Tribune.
- ^ Peggy Fletcher Stack, "First prayer by woman offered at Mormon conference", The Salt Lake Tribune, 2013-04-06.
- ^ David Kelly, "In rare event, woman leads prayer at major Mormon conference", Los Angeles Times, 2013-04-06.
- ^ Doug Barry, "Woman Leads Mormons in Prayer for the First Time in Forever", Jezebel, 2013-04-06.
- ^ Welker, Holly (March 16, 2014), "Ordain Women Transforms Mormon Feminism", Religion Dispatches
- ^ a b Walsh, Tad (June 23, 2014), "LDS bishop excommunicates Ordain Women founder", Deseret News
- ^ "Letter to Kate Kelly - The Washington Post". Apps.washingtonpost.com. 2014-06-30. Retrieved 2015-08-20.
- ^ Fletcher, Peggy. "Utah Local News - Salt Lake City News, Sports, Archive - The Salt Lake Tribune". Sltrib.com. Retrieved 2015-08-20.
- ^ Associated Press (August 19, 2015). "Mormon church makes first ever appointments of women to councils | World news". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-08-20.
- ^ Walch, Tad (18 August 2015). "In a significant move, women to join key, leading LDS Church councils". Deseret News..