What I Think...About Feminism

I am not a feminist, at least I don't call myself one.  Recently, though, I realized how passionate I am about some issues that fall under the topic of feminism.  I decided I need to explore feminist ideas to see what I think.  

When I went to the temple to receive my endowment for the first time, I felt offended as a female.  After that initial experience, Ben and I went to the temple every week for ten months.  It took time, effort, and lots of prayers to view things in a way that didn't feel offensive to me as a female.  

Here's what I think:  Our culture and society is part of who we are and how we think.  The United States of America's culture is definitely patriarchal.  Joseph Smith, a young boy, received a revelation to start the church I am now a part of.  Most people thought he was insane.  If he would have been a young girl, though, even less people would have listened.  

I believe Heavenly Father lets us function and move forward with our natural-occurring misunderstandings and misinformation.  Heavenly Father reveals to us only the things we seek.  We don't seek things that we take for granted as "natural".  For example, in our church, black males were given the Priesthood (the power of God on earth) in 1979.  I don't believe Heavenly Father ever told the prophets prior to '79 to not give the priesthood to black males.  I believe the prophets assumed that black men shouldn't have it because they lived in a time in which people that were black were viewed as less than people that were white.  It took a prophet living in a different time with different ideas to question and pray for revelation about this in order for Heavenly Father to reveal how things really should be. 

I read some of Rough Stone Rolling, the biography about Joseph Smith.  Apparently it wasn't uncommon for women in the days of Joseph Smith to use the Priesthood to give blessings.  I thought this was a really neat idea.  Why would Heavenly Father not want all of his children to be able to use his power on earth?  Why would he only want males to be able to have it?  I don’t think there are good answers to these questions. 

If one of my kids got seriously hurt and lay dying and I was alone with him, I would not hesitate to call on Heavenly Father’s power to heal him, and I do not believe I would be acting out of line.

Ben asked me recently if I am waiting for it to be revealed that women should have the Priesthood.  I am not.  I don’t expect that to happen.  I have never taken that idea seriously, but now I am wondering why not. 

I really, really hate that in every lesson about the Priesthood at church, some woman always makes the comment that women don’t need the Priesthood because we have the babies.  Like the Priesthood and motherhood are equal and comparable instead of being two totally different things!  Often I think the point of these comments is that men need the Priesthood to be humbled and made more righteous and closer to Heavenly Father.  Women have motherhood that does that.  Or, some of them may even be implying that women are superior and don’t need anything to be made closer to Heavenly Father, which is just idiotic and untrue.  There are certain things that are just said at church that actually make no sense, but somehow we have heard them so many times that we don’t realize how dumb they are. 

I actually think the idea of women not being allowed the Priesthood would be more troubling if our ministry was paid.  Most normal people don’t seek positions in our church because there is no financial compensation for the positions and the work for the positions has to come out of each person’s already limited time.  If people could seek jobs at church as their careers, it would be more limiting for women to not be allowed certain positions.

I do not like the idea that motherhood is a punishment for Eve eating the fruit in the Garden of Eden.  Yes, motherhood is hard and childbirth is painful, but I don’t view Heavenly Father as a jerk.  I think you would have to view Heavenly Father as a jerk to really believe this.  It is offensive if anyone really thinks this is true.

I don’t know if there is a Heavenly Mother.  The idea makes sense, but why don’t we hear about her?  Why don’t we talk about her?  I think the commonly passed around idea that we don’t talk about her in order to be respectful is offensive.  As a mother, if my kids never talked to me or about me or acknowledged me in any way, I wouldn’t feel loved.  I would feel unloved and unappreciated.  Ben, as my husband, would know this and would not encourage behavior that made me feel this way.  So why would Heavenly Father?  I don’t think Heavenly Father has encouraged this.  I think church leaders, men, have not sought revelation regarding this issue, at least not that’s been made public.  I think we can seek our own revelation for our own sake. 

I don’t spend my time feeling like less of a person in my church because of my gender because I believe what I have been taught-my role is different but equally important.  It is sad to me, though, that I have had to work to see my role as equally important, which is something men have never had to do. I think there are more concerns for raising a daughter in this church than a son.    I think there is a lot of untrue and inappropriate propaganda at church that is presented as fact and truth.  I definitely don’t like to hear stupid people say stupid stuff that makes no sense and shows no sign of actual thinking.   

Much more to come!