In 1992, Women and Authority reclaimed Mormon feminism in word, history, and theology. 20 years later this collection of feminist voices is less controversial, yet still compelling. We are proud here at fMh to celebrate this ground-breaking book and even more so to have Maxine Hanks, contributor and editor, included in this discussion this time around. Starting next week, and every other week all year long, we will be reading and recapping each chapter beginning with the Introductory Material . (For the Introductory Material and Chapters 1-9, we will repost and link the older discussions from 2006 and 2010 so everyone will have a chance to respond to Maxine’s new thoughts and comments on each one, then starting from Chapter 10 on with new material.) Once again, welcome Maxine!
Dear FMH Friends ~
I’m honored to join your discussion of Women & Authority for the 20th anniversary year. I have admired “Feminist Mormon Housewives” for its witty and honest confessions of complex identity, and “safe place to be feminist and faithful.” FMH has given women and men a public space to truly explore Mormon feminist identity and self-definition ~ a significant accomplishment. What is more powerful than knowing authentic self and claiming real identities? Whether readers comment or not, they are affected by your voices which inform, inspire, and empower many. Kudos to you all, for your years of sustained effort and courage.
TWO DECADES LATER……
In 1992, I was surprised that my university project on Mormon feminism became feminist history itself. Yet I was grateful that Women and Authority met its goal ~ to share Mormon feminism as integral to the faith, embedded in Mormon history, theology, and community.
“Feminism has always existed within Mormonism,” we noted. Feminism emerged early in Mormonism and has evolved along with the faith — from Emma Smith to Emmeline Wells, and Belle Spafford to Elaine Jack, and Sheri Dew to Julie Beck. Members and leaders often engaged in feminist work without using the word “feminist,” while Relief Society sisters invoked notions of “women’s rights.” Mormon women have worked outside of the home, found public positions and voice, exercised the right to vote, pursued college educations and professional careers, and used birth control — all of which were 19th-century feminist ideas, hard won in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Mormon feminists have aided, benefited and inspired the faith to grow and succeed as a religion, from the beginning to the present time. Feminist values, ideas, or practices have been found in the lives, work, or rhetoric of LDS mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, teachers, Church leaders and politicians, including Senator Orrin Hatch, Elder Bruce Hafen, and President Gordon B. Hinckley, among many others.
Feminism is the silent majority in Mormonism. In 1992, the “normative Utahn” was a working mom, with a Mormon background. If feminist labels are counterproductive, there’s no need to use them; the labels were never the point — freedom to pursue one’s own divine potential and identity was the point.
Women and Authority was an attempt to bring many feminist voices together, before the days of internet discussion. These voices were sincere, credible, good-willed LDS members and scholars who valued both Mormonism and feminism, and whose intent was to excavate feminism and feminist theology within the faith’s own history and tradition. They explored ways that Mormon women had accessed women’s liberation, the sacred feminine, spiritual authority, and priesthood power.
W&A was not an appeal to Church leaders and was “not about a power struggle, but about identity” as the Foreward explained. The book demonstrated that one feminism does not fit all — Mormon women and men are diverse and their feminism responds to the reality of different lives. Feminists weren’t trying to speak for all Mormons, they were trying to speak for themselves.
Today, Mormon feminism is not only re-emerging, it’s exploding in public discussions, blogs, gatherings, web pages, conferences, and media articles, from ExII to Dialogue, MWF to Sunstone, FMH to Mormon Stories, WAVE to Zelophehad’s Daughters, and DoM to the Mormon Women Project.
In 2003, Peggy Fletcher Stack asked “Where Have All the Mormon Feminists Gone?” then described how Mormon feminism functions more widely and institutionally, including at BYU ~ without the feminist label.
In 2009, Claudia Bushman sponsored a conference at Claremont Grad. University, “Through the Eyes of Women: Envisioning New Spaces for Theology and Practice” which legitimized Mormon feminist theology as women’s theology.
In 2011, the LDS Church booklet Daughters in My Kingdom invoked concepts of LDS women in “ministry,” who “draw upon the power of the priesthood,” and cited Emma Smith as “ordained” and the Relief Society as “divinely ordained of God to minister for the salvation of the souls of women and men.”
In 2011, the Relief Society founding minutes were published on-line, citing Joseph Smith who said that the “Society should move according to the ancient Priesthood…a kingdom of priests as in Enoch’s day–as in Pauls day,” and that he “would ordain them to preside over the Society…just as the Presidency, preside over the church.”
Of course, we cited these same things in Women and Authority back in 1992 (as others had done before us), but perhaps they were obscured by the word “feminism,” and need repeating every few years, without loaded terms.
With or without labels, it’s a fulfilling time for Mormon feminism, which is recognized, studied, and valued across labels, genders, generations, perspectives, positions, and approaches. So much has changed culturally in 20 years, I’m surprised that W&A is still relevant. If less has changed institutionally, then women continue to revisit concerns.
Meanwhile, Mormon feminism itself has matured in diversity, depth and confidence; today, its vibrant voices speak from a place of personal identity and deep conviction. Myriad internet discussions offer evidence that Mormon feminism has moved far beyond private into mass public discourse, where it engages diverse experiences and differing perspectives.
Whether private or public, cultural or institutional, labeled or not, it seems that re-emerging Mormon feminism is ever unfolding ~ within the lives and stories of individuals.
~ Maxine Hanks, January 2012