There is a perfectly patriarchal reason why feminism is always re-inventing the wheel, why women are often unaware of and unable to build on a previous foundation of activism and research. It is true in regard to Heavenly Mother and to feminism in general. It's because women's narratives, writing, and research does not make it into the mainstream narrative which is consistently generated by men. For LDS people, it is the writings of GAs, apostles, and prophets which becomes their standard source material. So women don't have ready access to the thought, struggle, and writings of previous women. The "shoulders of giants" which they can stand on, are almost always only those of men. This disconnection of women's knowledge is wonderfully explored by Amy Allebest in her podcast, Breaking Down Patriarchy (sorry I can't remember which specific episode, one of the early ones). The library of human knowledge, in the church and in culture-at-large, continues to disproportionately exclude women.
Celeste, I thought you may like to know of the passing of my aunt Jan Tyler. You can find her obituary by searching Jan Tyler Obituary Walla Walla. She was a feminist hero that I am so lucky to be able to call aunt Jan.
"rejected her re-baptism without a reason and without offering conditions for reinstatement."
This should be incredibly distressing to Mormon women. A woman was denied her blessings, her exhaltation and was given no option to repent. She is being denied serving in a calling and being denied the gift of the Holy Ghost for the rest of her life. Why?
Her love of her Mother.
This is not godly. This is not righteous. This is petty, fearful, punishment by men who are afraid of powerful women. Period.
So beautiful! Seriously this made me cry thinking of all the womens voices that have been silenced. Thank you for writing this and helping me "wake up"! I too have felt like I am reinventing the wheel and can now see that it's been invented, I just have to dig to find their voices.
Another reason why the feminist body of knowledge keeps re-inventing itself for Mormon women, is because of the late-bloomer nature of LDS feminists. So many LDS women are blissfully indoctrinated into the LDS culture and system well into their 20s. As they mature and do church callings and the years go on they gradually accumulate the thousands of micro-cuts of unequal treatment in the church. LDS women seem to awaken very slowly to feminism because the church provides them a relatively positive place in their earlier years. Their initial positive experiences in the church slow down the whole process of coming into feminist consciousness.
I ask this not to criticize but to know how we can fix this - how did you consider yourself a Mormon feminist but hadn’t read Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings? It came out 7 years ago and would have introduced you to those women. What resources were you using for Mormon Feminism and what can we do better to educate nascent Mormon feminists about the existence of our history? Not because I think Mormon feminism will succeed but for precisely the reason you’ve outlined - so that they don’t waste their energy re-inventing the wheel.
Celeste!! This is powerfully and clearly articulated, thank you for your work! It’s hard to see so many women arrive in this space (I agree there has been a rise of a new cohort in the last few years), doe-eyed and hopeful, and so obviously unaware of the pattern that has occurred time and again in our history. It reminds me of how essentially every generation from Christ’s time onward has thought they were so close to the second coming… and yet millennia pass. To co-opt recent language, it’s “arrogant and unproductive” 🙄 to assume we’re special and that this time is different.
I’m at a point in my own faith journey where I still feel like I can work from within the system, and so perhaps that inherently requires some level of doe-eyed hope on my part, but over the past decade I’ve found that learning the (real) history of this movement helps me set my own expectations (or lack thereof) and avoid (some of) the disappointment when my efforts produce no results other than pushback from people hell-bent on defending the patriarchal structure.
So again, thank you for your work outlining this is such a clear and concise manner. A great resource to share with those who haven’t done the hard work yet of learning our own history. 👏
Celeste, this was an excellent article, I really enjoyed reading it. I liked your survey of feminists and their work, and your own insights and the ways your own journey was woven into all of that.
I discussed this same problem you've pinpointed -- of Mormon feminists repeating efforts generation after generation. and how to overcome that problem. See my 1992 anthology Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism. It was the first book to recover Mormon feminism and feminist theology per se, in those terms, as an inherent movement within Mormon history. It was also the first book to collect a large sampling of feminist voices from the1940s-1990s. And the first book to collect women's personal views or experiences of the LDS divine feminine. And the first book to claim Mormon women had received and exercised priesthood powers and roles in several ways historically. Some of us (including Lavina, Mike, me, Lynne, and later Janice and Margaret) were disciplined for our work in W&A or related writings at that time.
Check it out, just re-released on kindle at Amazon. It used historical perspective, feminist theory, women's studies, and feminist theology to recover unknown aspects of Mormon feminism.
So many good points. This is well written. I'm surprised that you hadn't heard of Terry Tempest Williams. So how is this information to be shared? The internet? It's not going to happen at church. About Fiona Givens - she has spoken in public. She spoke to my stake at a fireside last fall. I believe it was her first time speaking publicly since leaving the Maxwell Institute. She is amazing. During Q&A at the end, someone asked her a question about Heavenly Mother. She declined to answer over the pulpit and she she would address the question in private. It's infuriating what women go through. A hundred years ago Charles Penrose said what Fiona Givens has said about HM but the man gets his words published in the Deseret News and the woman is quietly forced from her job.
I heard this recommended on the At Last She Said It podcast, was thrilled to see I knew the author(!), and then was blown away by the power of its content. Thank you so much, Celeste! You've gained a diehard reader😍
As a woman in the church I felt the unfairness of my body being a man’s only approved lifetime sexual outlet. My body didn’t feel like mine anymore in this earthly realm and certainly in the silenced eternal one.
Why does the highest degree of heaven depend on this? Why would a “loving” Heavenly Father make the “great plan of happiness” this way?
Being a Mother, having a womb, is the only thing the male human can not do…so it is the only way they try to assert their control over us.
Look at history, religious and non-religious. You can find it everywhere…even now…in 2022!! Controlling our voice, putting our “value” on the number of children we birth, birth control-ing…the list goes on and on.
Then, you (the LDS church leaders) tell the world that daughters can’t speak to their Mother… or even discuss, get intuition, connect with or even pray to Her?!
We’re done with you…patriarchy!
Silence, it’s not a female trait of our soul. You have been warned.
We are whole and enough without you. How does that feel when I say that? We and WHOLE and ENOUGH without you!
How beautiful life relationships are when the love within shows this truth!
There is a perfectly patriarchal reason why feminism is always re-inventing the wheel, why women are often unaware of and unable to build on a previous foundation of activism and research. It is true in regard to Heavenly Mother and to feminism in general. It's because women's narratives, writing, and research does not make it into the mainstream narrative which is consistently generated by men. For LDS people, it is the writings of GAs, apostles, and prophets which becomes their standard source material. So women don't have ready access to the thought, struggle, and writings of previous women. The "shoulders of giants" which they can stand on, are almost always only those of men. This disconnection of women's knowledge is wonderfully explored by Amy Allebest in her podcast, Breaking Down Patriarchy (sorry I can't remember which specific episode, one of the early ones). The library of human knowledge, in the church and in culture-at-large, continues to disproportionately exclude women.
Celeste, I thought you may like to know of the passing of my aunt Jan Tyler. You can find her obituary by searching Jan Tyler Obituary Walla Walla. She was a feminist hero that I am so lucky to be able to call aunt Jan.
Oh wow, I didn't know she was your aunt Sterling. Thanks so much for letting me know. So sorry for your loss. For all of our loss.
"rejected her re-baptism without a reason and without offering conditions for reinstatement."
This should be incredibly distressing to Mormon women. A woman was denied her blessings, her exhaltation and was given no option to repent. She is being denied serving in a calling and being denied the gift of the Holy Ghost for the rest of her life. Why?
Her love of her Mother.
This is not godly. This is not righteous. This is petty, fearful, punishment by men who are afraid of powerful women. Period.
So beautiful! Seriously this made me cry thinking of all the womens voices that have been silenced. Thank you for writing this and helping me "wake up"! I too have felt like I am reinventing the wheel and can now see that it's been invented, I just have to dig to find their voices.
Another reason why the feminist body of knowledge keeps re-inventing itself for Mormon women, is because of the late-bloomer nature of LDS feminists. So many LDS women are blissfully indoctrinated into the LDS culture and system well into their 20s. As they mature and do church callings and the years go on they gradually accumulate the thousands of micro-cuts of unequal treatment in the church. LDS women seem to awaken very slowly to feminism because the church provides them a relatively positive place in their earlier years. Their initial positive experiences in the church slow down the whole process of coming into feminist consciousness.
I ask this not to criticize but to know how we can fix this - how did you consider yourself a Mormon feminist but hadn’t read Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings? It came out 7 years ago and would have introduced you to those women. What resources were you using for Mormon Feminism and what can we do better to educate nascent Mormon feminists about the existence of our history? Not because I think Mormon feminism will succeed but for precisely the reason you’ve outlined - so that they don’t waste their energy re-inventing the wheel.
Celeste!! This is powerfully and clearly articulated, thank you for your work! It’s hard to see so many women arrive in this space (I agree there has been a rise of a new cohort in the last few years), doe-eyed and hopeful, and so obviously unaware of the pattern that has occurred time and again in our history. It reminds me of how essentially every generation from Christ’s time onward has thought they were so close to the second coming… and yet millennia pass. To co-opt recent language, it’s “arrogant and unproductive” 🙄 to assume we’re special and that this time is different.
I’m at a point in my own faith journey where I still feel like I can work from within the system, and so perhaps that inherently requires some level of doe-eyed hope on my part, but over the past decade I’ve found that learning the (real) history of this movement helps me set my own expectations (or lack thereof) and avoid (some of) the disappointment when my efforts produce no results other than pushback from people hell-bent on defending the patriarchal structure.
So again, thank you for your work outlining this is such a clear and concise manner. A great resource to share with those who haven’t done the hard work yet of learning our own history. 👏
Celeste, this was an excellent article, I really enjoyed reading it. I liked your survey of feminists and their work, and your own insights and the ways your own journey was woven into all of that.
I discussed this same problem you've pinpointed -- of Mormon feminists repeating efforts generation after generation. and how to overcome that problem. See my 1992 anthology Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism. It was the first book to recover Mormon feminism and feminist theology per se, in those terms, as an inherent movement within Mormon history. It was also the first book to collect a large sampling of feminist voices from the1940s-1990s. And the first book to collect women's personal views or experiences of the LDS divine feminine. And the first book to claim Mormon women had received and exercised priesthood powers and roles in several ways historically. Some of us (including Lavina, Mike, me, Lynne, and later Janice and Margaret) were disciplined for our work in W&A or related writings at that time.
Check it out, just re-released on kindle at Amazon. It used historical perspective, feminist theory, women's studies, and feminist theology to recover unknown aspects of Mormon feminism.
-- Maxine Hanks
https://www.amazon.com/Women-Authority-Re-Emerging-Mormon-Feminism-ebook/dp/B09YHSWPRP/ref=sr_1_1?crid=AWZEDPDMM27I&keywords=women+and+authority+by+maxine+hanks&qid=1675405710&sprefix=women+and+authority%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-1
So many good points. This is well written. I'm surprised that you hadn't heard of Terry Tempest Williams. So how is this information to be shared? The internet? It's not going to happen at church. About Fiona Givens - she has spoken in public. She spoke to my stake at a fireside last fall. I believe it was her first time speaking publicly since leaving the Maxwell Institute. She is amazing. During Q&A at the end, someone asked her a question about Heavenly Mother. She declined to answer over the pulpit and she she would address the question in private. It's infuriating what women go through. A hundred years ago Charles Penrose said what Fiona Givens has said about HM but the man gets his words published in the Deseret News and the woman is quietly forced from her job.
Slow clap 👏🏼
Absolutely powerful. Thank you for this compilation.
I heard this recommended on the At Last She Said It podcast, was thrilled to see I knew the author(!), and then was blown away by the power of its content. Thank you so much, Celeste! You've gained a diehard reader😍
As a woman in the church I felt the unfairness of my body being a man’s only approved lifetime sexual outlet. My body didn’t feel like mine anymore in this earthly realm and certainly in the silenced eternal one.
Why does the highest degree of heaven depend on this? Why would a “loving” Heavenly Father make the “great plan of happiness” this way?
Being a Mother, having a womb, is the only thing the male human can not do…so it is the only way they try to assert their control over us.
Look at history, religious and non-religious. You can find it everywhere…even now…in 2022!! Controlling our voice, putting our “value” on the number of children we birth, birth control-ing…the list goes on and on.
Then, you (the LDS church leaders) tell the world that daughters can’t speak to their Mother… or even discuss, get intuition, connect with or even pray to Her?!
We’re done with you…patriarchy!
Silence, it’s not a female trait of our soul. You have been warned.
We are whole and enough without you. How does that feel when I say that? We and WHOLE and ENOUGH without you!
How beautiful life relationships are when the love within shows this truth!
Celeste! Thank you for this comprehensive, thoughtful, well-researched piece of writing.
Amazing! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for all your research and educating me!