The Feminist Mistake

Several months ago I was assigned to teach a lesson on Utah's Historical Women's Suffrage Movement in my local DUP meeting.  I actually taught the lesson by default, since nobody else signed up to do it.  I was afraid that the lesson would be divisive and that it would be an exercise in man-bashing, since the main experiences I had had with the suffrage movement included such things as my mother's experiences and Mrs. Banks's sung motto in Mary Poppins: "Though we adore men individually, we agree that, as a group, they're rather stupid."  I have friends who actually believe things like that and know there are some very polarizing and strident feminist discussions going on right now.  I didn't want to be contentious.

What I learned made me conclude that Latter-Day Saint women are -- and have always been -- the most free in the history of the world.  In addition to the untapped power that I have always believed women have, the women of Christ's restored Church have the greatest and most noble opportunities ever -- and they are increasing to the degree that we act in accordance with our God-ordained roles.

I had not considered the significance that, from the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and continuing uninterrupted until now, LDS women have voted along with men to sustain leaders.  We have had our own organization, directed by God through duly called leaders, within and as an integral part of Christ's Church.  The key that was turned to the Relief Society in 1842 marked a blessing for women throughout the world:  the Seneca Falls Convention, marking the beginning of the suffrage movement in the United States, happened more than six years later.  Utah's women were held as an example by leaders of the national suffrage movements and were largely supported in their efforts by the male leaders of the LDS Church at the time.

It was interesting to learn that the women of Utah were the first to vote and were given educational opportunities before many of their sisters in other areas in the country.  Though the United States government put a stop to women's suffrage in Utah when statehood was granted, Mormon women, largely organized through the Relief Society, were active in promoting laws that protected rights of property and liberty for all.  They were acknowledged as leaders in the national women's movement for decades: even after 1920, when the 19th Amendment granted women's suffrage in the United States, local and general Relief Society leaders served on national boards advocating fair laws for everyone, including women.  This involvement ended in the seventies, when the women's movement moved into "modern" directions incompatible with Christianity.  As one official statement affirmed at the time:  "The Church is firmly committed to equal rights for women, but opposes the proposed Equal Rights Amendment because of its serious moral implications."

My mother, who grew up in the fifties and sixties, knew where the modern feminist ideas came from, even if the women from my generation and my daughters' -- and their daughters' -- do not.  Mom recognized the Betty Friedans and the Kate Milletts and could see what they were trying to accomplish.  She was there in the seventies when the NOW and their ERA rallies traveled the country and she got a front row seat when they came to town -- and it is interesting to note that the rally in Salt Lake City was by far the best-attended on the ERA rally tour.  A college-educated farm girl, Mom went to the event with an open mind and saw first-hand that "women's lib" had moved beyond voting and legal property rights and that the objective was even beyond the unisex bathrooms, etc., that the vulgarly masculine women's group openly advocated.  That day's experience affected her profoundly, including even the way she has dressed since -- in no way does she ever want to be identified with those people or their philosophies.

When a person's belief system is based on falsehood, everything that follows should be suspect.  By now, feminist doctrine has so infiltrated our lives, it is hard to tell which parts are false and which are true -- and how far the truth has been skewed by the distorted feminist glasses we're not even aware we wear.  To look fairly at current issues, we need to get out of the Fun House and step back in time, seeing things through clearer eyes.

I recently read a fascinating article by Mallory Millett, which helped put modern feminism in its Marxist context.  Her sister, Kate Millett, was one of the most prominent founders of the National Organization of Women and a keystone author in Women's Studies programs.  I had to edit the article to share aloud with my family, but it is worth the effort.  The article demonstrates why, at the roots, modern feminism is incompatible with home and family, with priesthood order and with Christianity.  Modern feminism defines women as prostitutes, doomed either to control or be controlled, and was intentionally designed to destroy the family; it takes as its tools every possible attack on decency and love.  ( See http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/mallorymillett/marxist-feminisms-ruined-lives/.) 

A cursory look at the lives of famous modern feminists helps us know them by their fruits.  Betty Friedan got what she demanded and was hailed as a prophetess, but she died miserable and rejected.  Kate Millett's artist husband put up with her violent mental illness and lesbian partners for twenty years before divorcing her; her female lover, subject of a pornographic book detailing their relationship, committed suicide.

And where are the formerly LDS women whose cases of "discrimination" once got them so much media attention for "advocating women's issues?"  Examples like Sonia Johnson demonstrate that it doesn't take long for them to move out of the spotlight and into the quiet oblivion of the same brand of ruined existence.  A beloved friend who claimed that some of the BYU professors, fired and/or excommunicated in the '90s, were her "finest teachers ever," did not see the irony of finishing her sentence with, "but none of us were surprised to learn that her TAs divorced their husbands and moved in together as lovers."  The destruction sowed by those teachers continues, too:  I watched as this friend likewise turned from Christ and systematically dismantled her family.

So, what is the Feminist Mistake?  We make it whenever we adopt mean-spirited or manipulative tactics to get what we want.  We make it when we look for fault in differences between the sexes or try to make all "fair" by making everything "even."  We make it when we try to reconcile Communism with Christ:  the two are diametrically opposed, because one is Satan's plan.  We make it when we fail to see that the Patriarchal Order is God's way, the Way to our own happiness.

Are there actual injustices in this world?  Of course there are.  And women of strength and character are ideally suited to address them -- with courage, kindness and love.

Feminism tries to change the world through discontent, anger, hate and destruction; godly mothers cannot afford to adopt these tools.  If we are contentious, we are already doomed -- even when we are technically polite.  Contention grows from the heart, the same as love.  As women become pure-hearted they become powerful, regardless of their circumstances.  I know that I cannot hide my true feelings from my children, even if my words are what they should be:  my children watch me and feel the influence I bring.  My message has to be encompassed in my life.  This is a high aim, worthy of a woman's best efforts.

Women -- mothers -- have the power to change the direction of future generations.  As a woman meets opposition and persecution with gentle meekness and guileless love, her children and all about her are influenced for good; when a woman tries to stand for what she believes in a fault-finding, negative or contentious way, she is wrong -- even if she is right.


Photos from sxc.hu.  Used with permission of michiru_.