FEMINISM AND THE MORMON WOMAN

In the modern world feminism has more to do with victimology than it does with the empowerment of women. Feminists of today have attempted to place women in a political and philosophical box rather than define womanhood through true equality. Feminism has been defined by contemporaries as a woman's right to get an abortion. Termed "reproductive rights" the feminist factions of today hyper-focus on this issue and are one dimensional ideologues inflecting women as weak victims who need elitist academics to define their roles in society, rather than each woman determining her own destiny. A pro-life woman is a product of "the man" and her weak psyche when in reality a pro-life woman probably has more control over her life than one who believes abortion is proper birth control. The pro-life woman is more likely to act responsibly in her sex life and to assume that pro-life women are uneducated celibates is ludicrous stereotyping. We are very aware of our vagina's and how babies are made thank you and it may shock most of you to know we are ladies on the street and freaks in the sheets.
As Mormon women, we are up against a machine of imposed self-centered criteria that places women in categories that are detrimental to women and our cause of equality and self-determination. To be a feminist by today's standards you must be career and education driven, sexually liberated and promiscuous, deem all men misogynists and prefer these qualities to motherhood or wife-hood.
A traditional view of women is not accepted in today's feminist definition of liberation. If you are a stay at home mom, love your husband, go to church and like it, then you are oppressed and an affront to all women in the 21st century. How is a woman's right to "choose" what is best for her oppression? And why does the worlds definition of womanhood discount a woman embracing traditional values? If you are truly liberated according to feminist philosophy, you must shun religious and traditional thought. Sounds like a police state of thought and a one dimensional thinking. Women have begun to thrive on their victimhood rather than empowering themselves as individuals. We have become collective thought mongers who define what is and is not oppressive. Deranged, paranoid and psychologically confused are most women of today. We are expected to have careers, raise families, get an education, hold church callings and prance around like sophisticates of each genre we subscribe to. Church and the world are subscriptions we must filter as both are in conflict categorically most of the time.
Education is essential to all people. Women, Mormon or non-religious should and must educate themselves and statistically LDS women are highly educated and comparatively so to the rest of society. Women from all walks of life should be praised for whatever it is they choose to do, as long as they are asserting their agency and not succumbing to advert pressure from a domineering man or political philosophy.
Mormon women can and should embrace many aspects of modern feminism. Women in the church have a long way to go as far as being deemed equal intellects and contributors to church hierarchy. But these things are culturally and traditionally based, not doctrinally and that topic is a different post. Suffice us all to say, that religious and traditional women should get the same out-crying support that non-religious career-minded women get from activist groups, and yet....we don't. But as an LDS woman I must maintain a higher and differing standard than the world because for me I am different than a male and I in no way shape or form want to make masculine my femininity. This is the danger. Soon we are all humans with no gender or definitive life roles. I am woman hear me roar....but please don't make me take out the trash. Asserting our sexual power and getting to watch just as many naked hot men in movies and on TV is what I call women's lib. Yep, as soon as the number of hot guys pictured in ads and in magazines are equal to the amount of hot skanky pictures of women then the world is really changing and embracing our equality. Until then, we are oppressed.

Madonna