Last week, there was a guest
post on the site Feminist Mormon Housewives that has left me speechless. I wasn’t planning on writing a commentary –
there are so many angles to discuss and so many uncomfortable points to the post – but I feel that I must, if for no other reason than that this issue needs to be addressed.
The
post is called Women’s Conference (Or Do Your Wifely Duty To Prevent Your Husband From Sin) This post details a
talk that a Mormon bishop gave on two separate occasions to the women of his
congregation. The author sat through the
first one in shock; the second time, a full year after the first talk, she came
armed with a notepad to record the bishop’s PowerPoint presentation and
accompanying lecture. Both of the
lessons had the implied message “Good Mormon women have regular sex with their
husbands in order to keep their marriages “happy” and keep their husbands from
sin.” The first time the bishop gave the
lesson, the title was “The Key To A Happy Marriage”, the second time the lesson
was simply referred to as the “Sex Talk”.
A
couple of nuggets from this bishop's lesson include
Next he puts up this
big picture of a line of german shepherds at a police academy. In front of this
line of dogs walks this little cat and it is obvious that all the dogs want to
do is pounce on the poor thing. Everyone giggles at what this picture is
suggesting and he continues on with his message. “This is a stupid cat. Luckily
these dogs are so well trained that they can fight against even their deepest
genetic desires and stay in line.” “But,” he said, “Just because they are
keeping formation doesn’t me they don’t REALLY want that cat. Trained dogs
STILL look at cats.”
“He then reminds
us that, “…there are women who WILL take your husband’s…” and Solomon says,
“…be ravished with your wife…” he goes on to add that if you won’t be ravished
with him, a stranger will.”
He tells the women
that all through young men’s lives there is a drumbeat going on in their heads
that says: “When I get married I can have sex…when I get married I can have
sex…when I get married I can have sex…” “I just need to hold on until a
beautiful wife lets me.”
(O…K…)
(O…K…)
He
tells us how often times the deprived spouse is loathing the thought of
eternity with his wife. The deprived spouse takes the sexual rejection as a
personal rejection and becomes resentful. And the deprived spouse is more
tempted when he is deprived.
I don’t
know what disturbs me most about this series of talks. I am disturbed by the fact that an entire
year went by between the bishop’s two talks with identical themes, with no
apparent backlash. I am also disturbed
by the fact that this bishop wasn’t fired or chastised and that there wasn’t
more of a backlash. Most of all, I am
deeply unsettled by the message that this particular authority figure gave to a
group of Mormon women.
There are two main points related
to Mormon practices that I would like to address, as I feel they are directly
related to this incident.
(1)
The majority
of local authority positions within the Mormon Church are filled by
volunteers. Bishops and stake
presidents, in addition to their day-job, also spend an additional 20+ hours
tending to the needs of their congregation.
These positions are considered to be divinely inspired; when a new
bishop or stake president is selected, the General Authorities will come and
interview possible candidates. The
General Authorities claim to have divine revelation when it comes to selecting
the right candidate. These bishops and
stake presidents receive very little training to perform their duties;
instead, they are told that the Holy Ghost will be their guide. Members look to their local leaders for
guidance on everything from marital issues to crises of faith, yet these
leaders are ill-equipped to carry out the roles they are assigned. This leads to a wide variation of leadership between wards.
(2)
Mormons have
very strict laws on chastity.
Pre-marital sex – and any forms of sensual foreplay – is strictly
forbidden within Mormonism. So is
masturbation and porn. Part of Mormonism
involves going through a temple recommend interview, starting at age 12 with
youth temple trips. During this
interview, a local authority will ask the interviewee about obeying the law of
chastity, including issues with masturbation and porn. As a woman, I was taught to safeguard my
virtue, as it was seen as a gift for my future husband. The lessons on chastity start at a young age
and only continue to intensify. As a
result of this repression, sex becomes a very twisted and uncomfortable topic
to address and is often associated with a sense of shame.
In addition
to these Mormon-specific points, there are also the aspects that apply to a
more general audience. There is the very
disturbing analogy of the German shepherds, trained not to attack the tasty
cat in spite of their instincts. There is also the idea that a woman
bears responsibility for her husband’s infidelities.
I simply do
not know how to react. I don’t know
where to start, what to address. All I
know is that reading this post made me upset in a way that I have not been in a
very long time. I wish I could write
satire about this bishop’s attitude like Donna Banta. I wish that I could write a sharp, incisive
commentary that distills this issue into a single point. Instead, all I
have to offer are a jumble of opinions and a need to talk about this
issue. Sex is not shameful. Women should not be blamed for the
infidelities of their husband; neither should they feel compelled to fake
desire at risk of losing their marriage.