Welcome back all. We missed you!

By: NatalieK

As I’ve mentioned here before, I recently moved to Seattle. As part of settling into my new neighborhood, I had to take nice long tours of the nearby used book stores. When I had a whole day free, I gave myself a 20 dollar bill, left the debit card at home, and jaunted off on my way.Now, normally, $20 could go a long way when you’re talking used books. And I had a veritable little collection under my arm by the time I was almost finished perusing the interesting shelves. But then, lo and behold, I found something on the women’s studies shelves that wiped out all my stores.

It was a little red book, published in 1911, on the topic of women’s suffrage.The title was “The Ladies’ Battle.” I saw that the author was a woman (Molly Elliot Seawell), saw that her book was dedicated “To those of my countrywomen who think for themselves,” and figured it was a pro-suffrage treatise. To my dismay, I opened the first page to find that the author was harshly castigating the suffragists. She claimed, in a long list of grievances, that “they have little knowledge of the fundamentals of government, the evolution of represenation, the history of politics,” and that they “hopelessly confuse political, philanthropic, socialistic, and economic questions,” and obviously “have never studied the Constitution.” My eyes grew large…. a primary source document about the real, bonafide women’s suffrage movement, written by a woman AGAINST suffrage? (more…)

Ahhh… made a comment (#544) on the Women are Inferior thread that I didn’t want to slip through the cracks, particularly this paragraph:

I think young LDS boys try to make sense of why women can’t hold the priesthood or are excluded from some leadership roles, for instance . . . and they are usually left to their own limited understanding to formulate a reason. Perhaps they hear better reasons later . . . but the first one they probably come up with (and that I’ve heard from a lot of LDS preteen boys) is . . . that men have more power in the church because men are better than women.

I was thinking about that and decided to conduct my own unscientific poll. I have four young preteen LDS sons, so I asked them a series of questions:

What is the Priesthood? (the authority of God)
Who has the Priesthood? (boys)
Why do boys have the Priesthood? (they have the authority)
So why do boys have the authority and not girls?

That’s when my 9 year old got a glean in his eye and said, “I guess [girls] just aren’t good enough”.

Wow. Ahhh… was right. (more…)

I recently gave birth to my second and last child. She is a beautiful girl, healthy and strong; she came into the extra-uterine world by means of a short and mercifully uncomplicated Cesarean section. Neither the baby nor I faced any serious danger, which made this birth much better than that of her sister.

I am not breastfeeding, though I could probably have done so successfully. (After the disaster that was my extraordinarily low milk supply the first time around, I did not want to torment my new child with hunger; and nursing seems to trigger depressive episodes for me). I felt no desire to try for a non-surgical deliver, much to my doctor’s relief. In fact, having gone through both an entire labor and a c-section with my first daughter, I found the surgery infinitely preferable to contractions and pushing. I am happy with my baby and my health; all is well.

However, I am aware that my choices - and even my lack of regret over the interventionist course of my daughter’s birth and nutrition - are laden with political meaning. (more…)

By: Phoenix

Phoenix is a 25 year old YSA. Mormon from day one; openly feminist since hitting adulthood. She loves creative writing, researching Church history, and—as this post will explore—live theatre.

So…I really love theatre. Movies and television are great, but there’s something about live performance that is so much more satisfying. Whether in the audience or on the stage, theatre makes me happy.

Recently, however, the stage has given me a lot of Mormon feminist food for thought. (more…)

Sunstone invites writers to enter the 2010 Eugene England Memorial Personal Essay Contest. In the spirit of Gene’s writings, entries should relate to Latter-day Saint experience, theology, or worldview. Essays, without author identification, will be judged by noted Mormon authors and professors of writing. The winner(s) will be announced in Sunstone. Only the winners will be notified of the results. After the judging is complete, all non-winning entrants will be free to submit their essays elsewhere. 

Prizes: A total of $450 will be shared among the winning entries. (more…)

 Update! 66 children from the orphanage were cleared to come to the states! Lindsay and her family are in Florida, currently dealing with all the legalities of international adoption on the US side, but they are here and they will be home soon. Check out the slide show accompanying the Deseret News article. Heartbreaking and beautiful. (more…)

About a year ago, I ticked off mfranti when I said, “Now, I’m no environmentalist . . . ”

It’s not that I don’t like the environment. I try to minimize my impact on the environment. You know - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Turn off the lights. Don’t drip the water. But, beyond that, I guess I figured that we all have our own causes to champion (so I’ll leave the environment to someone else), and I trusted that our government is doing enough to protect us from pollutants.

I’ve changed my mind. (more…)

I often get asked where the demarcation lines for feminism are. Do you have to hate men? Do you have to refuse to shave your legs? Do you have to work in a male dominated field? Do you have to eschew marriage and motherhood?

My answer to all of those questions has always been no. Modern feminism is all about creating options for women to make their choices openly and unfettered. So if you’re someone like me who loves high heels and knitting I can still have my feminist card, as long as I’m the one choosing the high heels and knitting. If I wear them because my husband insists, or if I knit because I was trained that a “good” woman does it, that’s the problem. Not the shoes or hobby themselves.

I often refer people to this essay, because it is a spectacular summing up of the situation. People who are uncomfortable with the label “feminist” usually don’t understand what the movement really means. Either they’re getting their information from someone else who doesn’t understand (often willfully so), or they aren’t aware of how things have changed since 1980. Which isn’t an insult. I’m hardly up on all the nuances in fields I’m not invested in either. Here’s Sars’ definition of feminism. (more…)

I’m not tired of religion, or of religious discussion. I very much enjoy a good discussion on theological concepts and their implications. But I’m tired of the juvenile “food fights,” those interactions plagued by posturing, the broad generalizations, stereotyping, condescension, and just plain silliness in the way people interact regarding religion. (more…)

Tell me what you think.

Text can be found here.

When I go on trips with friends and family, the subtle politics that takes place once we enter the hotel room always intrigues me. Some people plop right down and claim the prime spot near the light and the alarm clock, others choose the less desirable spots by the wall or the air conditioner, while still others hang back and take what’s left. My seven-year-old daughter, for example, feels fully entitled to take the good spot by the light, while her brothers seem not to care much about where they sleep, as long as they can hit the hotel pool. I like to think I’m a “hang back and see what’s left” kind of girl in hotels, but when it comes to my bedroom at home, the story changes. (more…)

I’ve been absent from fMh for several months now. My desire to blog was at zero. I clung to the perma emails that go around nearly daily, but I couldn’t concentrate for long enough to follow a post, or muster the energy to do so. This post will explain a little bit about my absence.

The following is the first in a series detailing my experience with depression. It’s something ongoing, and very personal, so your sensitivity is asked for. I’ve been hesitant to post on it, because of its personal nature, but since it’s a topic that was in the news here not too long ago, I thought maybe it was an appropriate time (more…)

We would like to welcome Stephanie as a guest blogger for the next few weeks.

I finally put the last of the Christmas ornaments away (2 weeks earlier than last year). I figure it’s a good time to reflect on the Christmas season. (Hey, if Quimby can blog about Christmas in May, then January’s just as good, right?)

In a lot of ways, this was my “worst” Christmas season ever. My list of “didn’t get dones” is long: didn’t attend the live nativity and Bethlehem town, didn’t drive around to look at Christmas lights, didn’t decorate the mantle with nativities, didn’t read the Christmas story on Christmas Eve. And yet, as I look back, this was also the Christmas that I learned the most about Christ. (more…)

Readers!I

It’s voting time and we need your help. fMh and its bloggers are trailing in the polls.

Go vote for us.  http://mormonmatters.org/2010/01/25/vote-here-2009-niblets-awards/

I live in Massachusetts, where State Senator Scott Brown slid securely into Senator Ted Kennedy’s vacant Senate seat last week in a special election, ushering in the apocalypse.   Scott Brown won the election because he drives a cool truck, stands outside Fenway Park in the cold shaking hands with potential voters, and he knows that Curt Schilling absolutely is NOT a fan of the New York Yankees.   Oh, yeah, and because Scott Brown is opposed to health care reform. (more…)

A whole bunch of us braved the rain and got together last night for a wild rumpus and lots of vegetarian gluttony.

Bobby Pin Natalie, Mardell, Kaimi, CWC, and Lorian (more…)

I sorta forgot about these (I’m flaky like that), but CWC called me last night /n told me to do a post because fMh is underrepresented in the nominations. (you all probably didn’t even know about them).

So go to Mormon Matters to nominate your favorite fMh posts, bloggers, comments, n’ stuff. Nominations end tomorrow.

My blogging journey began in early 2005, when, bored at work, I stumbled upon Times and Seasons after reading an article in the NY Times about former-Mormon and world-famous blogger, Heather Armstrong.

I couldn’t believe my eyes!  Mormons sharing their regrets about spouses wearing temple garments, Mormons opening up about issues of divorce, gays, women and the priesthood.  Everything I had ever wanted to talk about with Mormons, but had been afraid to ask.  Or had asked, and had been given either a blank stare or an openly hostile glare.

My foray into Mormon blogging began with me posting a couple of times under my cat’s name, then my real name, and now under ECS.   After five years of blogging, I’ve learned a thing or two. (more…)

Introduction

My name is Lindsey M, I converted to the church 2 years ago after I met my husband again (we grew up together, were HS sweethearts, left for 10 years found each other ect. Gag gag gag wonderful love story (truly) but its enough to make you wanna throw up). I am currently working on my MS in Human Nutrition and have a six-year-old daughter that I brought into this marriage from a previous relationship. Over the years I have had a lot of roles, single mother, student, Navy aircraft electrician, wife, convert Mormon and so my perspectives on things tend to get a little complicated (hahah doesn’t everybody’s).

So there it is ( all of my bright shininess) two paragraphs may have overdone it, but that’s what I’m giving you for now J. Thanks for all the work you ladies put into this blog, it’s pretty much as awesome as it gets!

Supporting Women in Other Religions

As I looked around on the computer this morning, doing my normal routine of checking my email, facebook, and FMH, I noticed a Yahoo news clip about France trying to make a new law that would ban burqas. At first, I thought that maybe I hadn’t read the headline right. Most of the time I tend to think of countries in Europe as being progressive and liberal (these are two of my faaavorite things) but lately I have noticed a disturbing trend that I think isn’t getting enough attention.
(more…)