by Jessawhy
While at Counterpoint conference sponsored by the Mormon Women’s Forum last fall, I began thinking about Mormon feminism in a new way. My presentation was about the way Mormon feminist blogs have affected my life and my spiritual journey. Truthfully, I can’t overstate how much the relationships I’ve created with these women from blogs and from my local Mormon feminist community have changed my life.
Thus, I don’t want my post to be mistaken as a critique of current network of Mormon feminists. Perhaps I’m not aware of the past or current attempts to activate Mormon feminists. Here, though, I’d like to examine the possibilities of the future of Mormon feminism as a movement.
The turning point for me at Counterpoint conference was when I began to ask myself these questions: What if there is more to Mormon feminism than isolated blogs like Exponent and ZD and fMh), retreats like DAM, Exponent, Sophia Gathering, and Pilgrimage, and women getting together for book groups and lunch groups? What if Mormon feminism stopped being just a casual thing that many of us have in common, a place to lay our burdens on the breasts of those who care and understand?
What if Mormon feminism could actually DO something?
All of the Mormon feminists I know are ambitious, brilliant, and brave. What is stopping us from doing something to create awareness and cohesion among others like us?
I don’t know exactly what it would look like, but a Mormon feminist movement would have to be well-branded and catchy, pleasant in it’s critiques, and calm in it’s requests. A Mormon feminist movement would be capable of informing people, creating a dialogue, calling attentions to injustices past and present, with aim to improve the rights of women in the church around the world.
Here are my lame attempts at slogans, stolen from modern branding geniuses:
Mormon Feminism- Think Outside the Patriarchy
OR
Mormon Feminism- Got Equality? (I’d love to hear your ideas for branding or slogans)
I’d like to think that a Mormon feminist movement has incredible potential. So many women identify with issues of gender equality, distribution of power within the church and at home, struggles with balancing self and family responsibilities, and even teachings of the church that neglect the divine feminine.
The closest thing I’ve seen to this kind of activism was the What Women Know site in response to Julie Beck’s conference talk. A well written document, it attracted a variety of signers and responses.
Below is my first draft of a name, mission statement, and vision for a Mormon Feminist Movement. I welcome your suggestions or critiques.
Mormon Women of Action
Mission Statement:
Our mission is to share the virtues of feminism with members of the Mormon church.
Vision:
To accomplish this, we invite women to share their personal stories, advocate for change of hurtful policies or practices, find support for alternative opinions or interpretations of church doctrine, and pursue a relationship with divine feminine.
The next part of the process towards activism would have to be organizing and creating consensus for a specific platform. This would be very tricky because of the diversity of beliefs within the group. On one end of the spectrum is the Radical Feminist Manifesto , and on the other end those who are in favor of equality but troubled by any references to requesting change. My hope is that we could find enough issues in the middle to find some compromise.
A unity of groups, and a common umbrella is what I am most interested in. How do we create a popular and positive brand that women are proud to be a part of that still advocates for Mormon Feminism? How do we unite women from all over the world who read and comment on Mormon feminist blogs?
Perhaps I am way off base with this post. I’ve considered that some readers may think that trying to change anything within the church is fruitless either because it just WON’T happen because of currently patriarchal power structures, or SHOULDN’T happen because the way things are is God’s will.
Others may agree with me that changes should and could be made, but don’t see Mormon feminism as a vehicle to do so. Perhaps these readers see Mormon feminism as more of a phenomenon to study or watch with interest, instead of a movement aiming for institutional change.
Lastly, I can imagine a group that may agree with all of these ideas and yet be too scared to sign their name to anything that remotely dissents from the church, regardless of how gentle or well aimed.
In conclusion, activism for things that we care about is part of our daily lives. Last week, I went to Washington D.C. to discuss my sons’ health care needs with our Senators and Congressmen/women. Advocating for equality and women’s voices in the church isn’t substantively different. Perhaps it’s just a matter of changing from an internal dialogue to and external dialogue, of changing our perspective.
I’m interested in your thoughts on the potential for a Mormon Feminist Movement.
Could it work? Would you want it to? Why or why not?
What issues would include in a MFM platform?
I unfortunately have to agree with jddaughter way up in the comments: fear is such a hideous but truthful thing for me in all this. Which is probably why such a movement is so needed…
Small victory to share: I wrote up a case for improving the womens’ nursing lounge in the stake center (literally: a door-less hole in the wall of the bathroom) and sent it with one of the high councilors (my FIL) to his meeting. They are now in the works to transform a classroom into a better nursing facility. As small as it is, it totally feels like my own sort of suffragette victory.
CSS, I just want to say YES! To all your ideas. I think they are great and I’m excited to get going!
I did my Masters thesis on the conservative, anti-feminist Utah Eagle Forum. I have always wondered why their strategies- well publicized through coverage in the Utah papers- haven’t taken hold in liberal circles. While certainly agitation for change in politics doesn’t translate perfectly to the church context, I think they offer some very useful ideas for mobilizing LDS women. For example-
-A phone tree. The “5 call 5 call 5″ system provides women with a dependable way to get information and know who to contact about an important issue. The UEF can generate 1000+ calls in a day through this strategy. We have the phone numbers of our bishops, Relief Society presidents, and stake presidents. What might happen if women used an incident- breastfeeding persecution, a mother of a blessed child rendered invisible, lack of changing tables in men’s restrooms- as an opportunity to open immediate dialogue with local leaders? Part of the genius of the phone tree is that it allows women to pass if they aren’t interested or concerned with a particular issue, and women (and men!) on the phone tree can enlist women and men off the phone tree to help. I would like to think that a stake president who has received 50 or 100 calls about a matter would respond, or at the very least bring those concerns to regional leaders.
-Physical presence. The UEF is constantly at the Utah state legislature, talking to leaders, networking, coming up with ideas. At the local level, this might include women making appointments with leaders at varying levels to express concerns. It might involve chatting informally with leaders at ward/stake social events about issues. It might include being a voice in Relief Society lessons.
-Make it look good. Over time the UEF has toned down the “hysterics” (the hysterical woman perception is an obvious burden when one is speaking out) a lot to adopt a more level, professional, yet still impassioned tone. Branding matters. A unified, positive tone is as important as Anthropologie birds (a suggestion I liked). The UEF found greater success when they started to feel like they could approach government representatives as equals. Confidence matched with concern, rather than anger, goes a long way.
-A broad agenda. A feminist agenda is a multi-issue agenda. The UEF likes to celebrate the fact that they are a coalition that includes 2nd Amendment, anti-p*rn, homeschooling activists etc. They don’t purport to agree on everything. A cafeteria approach- we are people who agree on some of the above rather than all of the above, but are unified by a broad common goal- can boost numbers and make for a movement that mobilizes people through a wide range of common concerns.
-A national network. The UEF is a chapter of a national organization. Through the national arm, they get and spread news about the successes of other Eagle Forum chapters’ lobbying efforts. They invite members from other states to speak at their conference about their victories. They have national conferences. Can you imagine the energy that could be harnessed through daily headlines- “25 women in stake called stake president about…” “Ward Relief Society adopts suggestion to do…”. I think some sort of a news mechanism (which obviously comes with maintenance costs) is essential to help women at the local level to feel apart of something bigger.
I guess what I see with these strategies is that women are using existing networks to find their voices. While I think a movement online or outside the church is useful for different reasons, I think Mormon feminists (or women concerned about other women) would need to harness ways to use the hierarchy to effect change from within the Church, as members of the church (much as the UEF regard themselves primarily as citizens) rather than members of a particular organization. I believe whole-heartedly that it could work because I think it already does– but the UEF example perhaps provides some strategies the existing MFM might become a greater presence.
Forgive me if any of this has been repeated…
First off I love Caroline’s original post and the ‘big tent’ analogy.
That being said I really don’t like the idea of getting rid of ‘feminist’. I understand it is for those who have an aversion to the word but IMO this movement is about gathering our strength and speaking with a booming voice so we can *finally* be heard and starting off by seeking to appease in the hopes that maybe we will be taken seriously isn’t sending the right message. Not only that but you know the ‘f’ word is going to be thrown at us to put us down if we hide from it “Oh that Mormon Women’s Group is nothing more than a bunch of feminists!”. So why hide from it? We’re feminists. Lets own that. Lets stand by it and stand firm. It’s not a dirty word, lets show them that.
I am really loving this idea! But I admit I am not holding my breath to see any real change any time soon. Instead I am looking at this movement as carving out a place for us and basically saying “we’re here and we’re not alone!”
Also, I think Melanie is right on.