My photo
Grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints and Roman Catholic traditions, including a stint at a Catholic school; somewhat sadly, before the point at which young women (people - not the misogynist Mormon class) wore kilts. Attended church until a teen, but held atheist sentiments from a young age, despite being in a family full of believers. This is a place for my thoughts regarding religion on both a personal level and relating to the world, of which I am a member... And Mormons say journals are a good thing :)

May 31, 2007

What if gender roles in the Mormon Church were reversed?

"Look at the list below and ask yourself, would any rational man join a church that..

...women held all priesthood leadership positions, including Prophet, Apostles, Stake Presidents and Bishops etc...

...God was a woman and any mention of Father in Heaven was forbidden

...only women were allowed to speak for God

...under no circumstance could a man hold a position of authority over a woman

...only women could perform church ordinances - i.e. pass the sacrament, perform baptisms or bless their own children

...in the temple women covenanted to obey Mother in Heaven but the men covenanted to obey their wives

...the fundamental narrative upon which the entire religion were based had a man obeying Satan to eat the forbidden fruit first, which would explain why men are so subservient to women

...men were told time and again in General Conference from their all-female leaders that their main purpose was to be submissive to their wives

...at age 12 the girls got the priesthood with subsequent advancement during the teen years. But the boys got nothing but a "Manhood Medallion"

...the only men's group in the church called the "Relief Society" was really run by the women apostles who made all the real decisions, controlled the budget and provided all the curriculum

...the church had a history of treating men like mindless property. Its founding leaders taught that God commanded that one woman should have plural husbands that lived by themselves and had to share the one wife with other men.

...the church founder (a woman) had over 30 secret husbands. Some of them were pre-pubescent boys she emotionally blackmailed into secret sex. Some were happily-married men who she told had to marry her in order to save their families.

...the church's scriptures (D&C 132) contained a revelation by the church founder (a woman) that has Heavenly Mother saying she gives young virgin men to the founder and her husband must accept it or suffer destruction and eternal damnation

...the Book of Mormon had only four pathetic references to men but the whole rest of this "divinely inspired" book was about women

...women frequently gave men priesthood blessings of counsel, pretending to speak in the name of Heavenly Mother commanding them to obey their wives and "be faithful"

...the most precious thing a man could give his wife were his virginity/virtue

...men who had lost their virginity before marriage were called "used cars"

...single men were told that they could only be exalted if their wives called upon them for exaltation

...in the next life a woman could have as many husbands as she wanted while the husband could only have one wife

...the men were expected to take mini classes on how to change toilet flappers, sharpen lawn mower blades, or fix fences while the women met to discuss leadership doctrine

...a man who had a huge business empire and a great education was only allowed to be in charge of other men or children...never women...in church

..men wondered what their wife's temple names might be

Would any man in his right mind join such a church?"


If the answer isn't obvious, it's a resounding NO. One of the reasons I left Mormonism, and didn't get deeply involved with it while being taken there as a child, was due to it's unequal sexed power structure (among other things) If that were inverted to a matriarchal one, men would probably leave for similar reasons some women do.

This list comes from Rethinking Mormonism which, at least from what I've gleaned at so far, looks like an informative site worth checking out.

No comments: