Agency in the realm of resistance, subversion, or emancipation

2.3.1. General background

Approaches from the 1970s to the ‘90s still mainly proceeded from secular critiques of the oppressive nature of religion, but converged simultaneously on women’s reactions to oppression. Works such as Mary Daly’s Beyond God the Father (1973), Rita Gross’ edition Beyond Androcentrism (1977), Rosemary Radford Ruether’s Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology (1983), and Gerda Lerner’s The Creation of Patriarchy (1986) informed research to look for agency as a means to resistance and liberation. Avishai (2016) considers this research as coming from the first generation of scholarship on gender and religion that “helped articulate the agency of those who maneuver within oppressive social structures,” with reference to McNay’s (2000) identification of agency as

“resistance, subversion, performance, a resource, and emancipatory remodeling of identity.”

Various studies contributed to the analysis of this reactive or oppositional agency of women within oppressive social structures. I describe a few examples. Kandiyoti (1988)

51 refined the understanding of patriarchal systems by comparative analyses of women's strategies and coping mechanisms in two environments, sub-Saharan Africa and the Muslim Middle East. These systems “entail forms of control and subordination that cut across cultural and religious boundaries, such as those of Hinduism, Confucianism, and Islam” (p. 278). Liberating developments should lead to the breakdown of what Kandiyoti calls “patriarchal bargains.” Brink and Mencher (1996) analyzed in Mixed Blessings how religious fundamentalism affects gender roles in various countries, showing how women can both suffer and profit from fundamentalism. Arthur (1998) looked at a Mennonite community to study how women managed to exert social control over male prerogatives.

Gerami and Lehnerer (2001) studied the narratives of Iranian women who found ways to counter the gender oppression in the patriarchal practices of Islamic fundamentalism.

Prickett’s (2014) ethnographic fieldwork among African American Muslim women demonstrated how their appropriation of space and their sister bonding enabled them to resist gender, economic, and racial oppression. Stopler (2005) considered the political reality in the United States. She argued that, in spite of the legal separation between state and religion, the influence of patriarchal religions continues to adversely affect the rights of all women.

These various studies fall under the research moniker of “resistance agency” and, if resistance is successful, under “empowerment agency” (Avishai 2008; Burke 2012). Such analyses continue to be relevant as political, economic, and religious circumstances in certain locations reveal that forms of resistance offer the only or the main avenue for women’s agency towards some emancipation.

2.3.2. In Mormon studies

Quite a few Mormon and ex-Mormon scholars have analyzed women’s condition in Mormonism from the overall view of oppression and the subsequent search for solutions in various forms of resistance, balancing, and liberation. Most of them are doctoral dissertations. I organized some of the most relevant ones from various perspectives.

2.3.2.1. From a vindictive perspective

One group of studies takes an openly critical approach. The first words in the titles of some of these publications reveal the tone: “Flight from the Iron Cage” (Beck 1994); “Hope Deferred” (Bignall 2010); “Un-silencing” (Jones 2013); “A Divine Inequality” (Robinson Pardi 2014); and “Matricidal Patriarchy” (Silva 1994).

Beck’s research (1994) focused on Mormon women experiencing the social and psychological conflicts related to the modernization of women’s roles. Her “iron cage”

refers to the Weberian concept of highly rationalized bureaucratic structures that trap individuals in systems driven by efficiency, calculation and control—which Beck saw

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vividly present in Mormonism. Her analysis of interviews with Mormon women led to the definition of a category of church-active women, whom she called the “internally defined.” They reject for themselves both the labels traditional and feminist. These

“fence-sitters” view their female gender role as created by personal individual decisions.

Beck viewed both Mormon traditionalists and Mormon feminists as “externally defined”

by social forces outside themselves.

Bignall (2010) used a reflexive methodology to analyze the effectiveness of Mormon feminist efforts in bringing the church to change androcentric traditions. Her conclusion was that the church leaders are not motivated “to seek and enact deep, genuine change in its construction of gender roles,” hence, forms of resistance are needed. Bignall recognized, however, the religious and social security the system offered to many women, while still finding it surprising “that so many women remain complicit in their own subordinate status” (p. 181).

Jones (2013) approached the topic from the perspective of counseling psychology needed to address the harm caused by codependency and dominance in a patriarchal system. Resistance and liberation are to be found in exploration of self and individuation.

Jones analyzed writings by ex-Mormon women in order to compare her own experiences with the experiences of the larger group.

Robinson Pardi (2014) exemplified a radical feminist approach by arguing that Mormonism is not only patriarchal but un-egalitarian. She viewed needed resistance in historical perspective by pointing at the loss of female power and positions since the 1970s. Women can regain more visibility by bringing up feminist topics in sermons and lessons, such as Heavenly Mother or priesthood participation, but also by simple acts such as wearing pants to church in response to obsessions over modesty.

Silva’s “Matricidal Patriarchy” (1994), written by a Mormon husband, is a fierce indictment of the church’s “patriarchal system whose imperative is male-hierarchical hegemony” (p. 148). He appealed to minimize the abuse of male authority by involving women on equal footing, and therefore giving them the priesthood—”in the equality of men and women working as partners in governing the affairs of the kingdom together for the mutual blessing of all” (p. 152).

Exiting the church can create psychological stress. The church itself allows exiting without repercussions and remains welcoming and assisting. However, breaking away from years of high commitment and intense interpersonal relations can come at a high emotional and even physical cost (Scheitle and Adamczyk 2010). Others, however, find it liberating (Scharp and Beck 2017). In the case of exiting because of conflicts over women’s issues, the process may require reconstruction of identity (Daughtrey 2012; Robinson Pardi 2014).

53 2.3.2.2. Seeking solutions and empowerment

I present these studies in chronological order of publication.

Walker (1990) analyzed the theological foundations of Judeo-Christian patriarchy—

dualism of spirit and body, God as male, and the fall of Eve. Though not a sociological investigation, the study refers to the insights of Daly (1973), Ruether (1983), and Lerner (1986) and deserves to be mentioned here for its theoretical contribution to the debate.

Walker concluded that Mormonism does not follow the Judeo-Christian tenets that justify patriarchy. Therefore a radical correction of that historical construct is warranted.

Sipes (1993) conducted a standard quantitative investigation among 118 Mormon women committed to the church. The survey was based on a model of cognitive dissonance and a model of conflict resolution in order to determine what kind of conflict these women felt and how they might respond to resolve it. The results revealed that the participants had more dissonance from intrareligious conflicts between the ideal and daily reality, rather than from externally imposed situations. They sought resolutions within the system itself, by developing coping mechanisms, adapting some of the exigencies of the system, and counting on others to help, rather than turning away in self-sufficiency and autonomy.

Leis (2005) focused her research on the experiences of Mormon women who work outside of the home. She concluded that cognitive dissonance and stress were the consequence of emotions and experiences surrounding the challenge of balancing two dichotomous relationships—family and work. Findings distinguished three groups: those who refused to recognize the problem and appeared to struggle the most; those who recognized the problem but did not immediately find ways to deal with it; those who recognized the problem and found strategies that led to solutions. “Much can be gleaned from these women. They have a wealth of personal knowledge that can be drawn from and utilized to assist those women who have not reached a level of reconciliation” (p. 59).

Leis remarked that women often pass through phases that move them from one group to another.

Johns (2008) devoted a linguistic analysis of the way female Mormon missionaries weave strategies of resistance to male dominance into their personal narratives. One strategy is irony by displaying “sweet submission and cheerful supportiveness.” Another is by showing super competence by appropriating male roles and outrivaling them.

Nzojibwami (2009) turned to self-defined Mormon feminist women to investigate how they reconcile their attitudes with a patriarchal religion. Her aim was to improve instruments for psychological counseling within applied psychology. Similar to other women in patriarchal religions, Mormon feminists exist in a complex situation, where they have to balance their role as wife, mother, and manager of the private sphere, while their male counterparts exist in the public sphere. Methods of reconciliation include treating the patriarchal system as peripheral to one’s religiosity, reconstructing the

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understanding of Mormon theology to bring it in harmony with feminist beliefs, and staying actively involved in the Mormon and even civic communities. Nzojibwami did not advocate liberation from Mormonism, but rather a pro-active creation of a feminist sphere within Mormonism, which fosters personal empowerment.

Leamaster (2014) focused on Mormon women’s compliance with and resistance to gendered expectations. As one of the few male researchers in this domain, he analyzed how many women resist traditional patriarchy in everyday life and are able to draw on

“resistance toolkits,” cultural resources such as alternative narratives on gender expectations. He also looked at why religious women comply with gender expectations to facilitate gender inequality. Leamaster found that class and region, specifically middle class background and living in or outside of Utah, are important factors that change the constraining affects of Mormon gendered schemas. Related studies by Leamaster and others include the choice between career and motherhood (Leamaster and Subramaniam 2016), Mormon women’s patterns of compliance with patriarchy (Leamaster and Bautista 2018), and Mormon women’s patterns of gendered resistance (Leamaster and Einwohner 2018).

Halford (2019) conducted a qualitative research among thirty active Mormon women in Britain “to understand the ways some religious women comply with, conform to and resist secular and religious gender norms in their religion-as-lived practices” (p. 6).

Drawing on feminist standpoint theory and her own lived experiences as an active Mormon and mother of eight, she surveyed “how Mormon women are agential in diverse ways, not just in resisting church teachings but in the ways that their actions can be seen as empowered, instrumental and compliant” (p. 183). Among the various aspects she considered is the attitude of her respondents toward the American “Molly Mormon” ideal (see 5.4.2.8). Though most of her respondents reject that hyper-feminine ideal which complies with patriarchal hierarchy, they still “appear to have internalised aspects of Molly Mormon by prioritising motherhood as they see it as fundamental to a female embodiment” (p. 183). Sorting out “gospel principles” versus “Utah Mormon culture” in the search for balance leads to recognize that “negotiations of gender are much more complex, fluid, and untidy than official church teachings would have us believe” (p. 187).

2.3.2.3. Emancipation by adding outside spirituality

A few studies focus on Mormon women who, as a form of subversion or emancipation, seek spiritual satisfaction outside of Mormonism, though they remain practicing members. This perspective requires some background, which I initiated earlier (1.2.3) and which I elaborate further on (Chapter 3).

Historically, Mormonism is a religion of spiritual gifts such as revelation, visions, and miracles. Joseph Smith noted as the seventh Article of Faith: “We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.”

55 Women were part of these spiritual gifts (Dunn 1982; Newell 1992). By the end of the nineteenth century, however, these experiences faded as church leaders moved the church into a more controlling and “mainstream” mode. Still, up to the 1960s, stories of miracles and so-called “folk-beliefs” abounded among the more spiritually or emotionally inclined (Crapo 1987; Mould 2011). In the 1970s, much of this changed: “correlation”

obliged strict uniformity worldwide and counseled members to keep stirring spiritual experiences personal and discrete. Van Beek (2012) noted how even temple attendance, which for members should represent the height of sacred experience, became “an item in their agenda” because of scheduling regulations. Though phrases such as “feeling the spirit” and “personal revelation” remain frequent in church sermons and lessons, and many members regularly refer to deep “testimony-building” spiritual experiences, for others these phrases are more part of a rhetoric that lost its past salience. In fact, church leaders clarify that revelation comes as “a still, small voice” and as confirmation of rational reflection.¹ This routinization of religion left at least part of the membership, women in particular, hungering for more. Hence, their search for spirituality outside of Mormonism. Some find it in alternative spiritualities roughly labeled “New Age,” which are grounded in Oriental religions, in Native American traditions, or in occultist streams of Western esotericism such as Wicca. These tendencies often include alternative forms of healing or nutrition.

Daughtrey (2012) used ethnographic data from Mormon women who adopted forms of New Age spirituality to analyze how they negotiated their blended religious identities in relation to their hierarchical and patriarchal church. In this religious hybridity Daughtrey puts the emphasis on gender and on the negotiation between institutional power structures and individual authority. The study illuminates processes and discourses of religious adaptation and synthesis through which these Mormon women creatively and sometimes provocatively challenge the church’s formal power structures.

Knowlton (2006) noted the impressive presence of New Age providers and institutions in Utah, with bookstores, shops, psychic fairs, and alternative healing festivals. He conducted an ethnographic study through exploratory interviews with some twenty Mormons involved in the movement. The experiences he reported all dealt with women who were frustrated by what Mormonism offered, some in particular by the male-dominated system. In that sense, they found in alternative spirituality something of the priesthood that Mormonism denied them. Knowlton observed how these New Age participants were crossing the boundaries of Mormonism with ease or, rather, were able to capture plurality within religious syncretism.

1 Church president Gordon B. Hinckley explained this process in an interview with CBS reporter Mike Wallace and reported on it in general conference: Gordon B. Hinckley, “This Thing Was Not Done in a Corner” (October 1996). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1996/10/this-thing-was-not-done-in-a-corner. Accessed July 16, 2019. See also other general conference sermons: S.

Dilworth Young, “The Still Small Voice” (April 1976); Graham W. Doxey, “The Voice is Still Small” (October 1991); Richard C. Edgley, “A Still, Small Voice and a Throbbing Heart” (April 2005).

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The church itself protects its institutional exclusivism and sees the New Age trends as disruptive. An article in the official church magazine defined “New Age spiritual beliefs”

as “an eclectic, contemporary pseudo-religion that consists of a confusing array of beliefs about the nature of man and denies the existence of a personal God and the need for a Savior.” It warned that “some aspects of the New Age movement may seem harmless. But when we compare basic principles of the gospel with New Age philosophies, we see that New Age beliefs can lead us away from our Heavenly Father, allowing us to rationalize behavior and become ensnared in sin.”¹ The warning implies that participation in alternative spiritualities can be seen as a form of resistance. This explains why most church members prefer to keep that participation discrete—a fact that both Daughtrey and Knowlton remarked.

2.3.2.4. Higher education and educational leadership

Mihelich and Storrs (2003) studied a form of “embedded resistance” among Mormon women, namely their use of justifying explications to maintain allegiance to Mormonism while pursuing liberating higher education. Arguments of essentialism, professionalism, and equality justify their educational pursuits. Women find their answers in part in the Mormon belief system as it helps them answer existential questions. In a similar sphere Miller (2009) investigated the discrepancies in gendered educational leadership in a Mormon environment to show how lay male priesthood power extends to the non-religious realm and leads Mormon women to view even secular leadership through a male prism. Robins (2011) is one of the male authors in this group of researchers. He researched the same issue as Miller, namely the effects of a male-dominated Mormon culture, focusing on discriminatory gender dynamics in high school leadership environments. In contrast to Miller, he interviewed male school principals in order to further explore the impact of Mormon culture and theology on male and female school leaders that work together on administrative teams. His findings showed how patriarchal relations transfer to the civic sphere. Hence, the need for resistance and negotiation to break through these patterns of inequality.

2.3.2.5. Sexual aspects

Finlayson-Fife (2002) wrote her dissertation on female sexual agency in the Mormon patriarchal culture. She used qualitative interview with sixteen married, church-participating women born into Mormon families. Though patriarchal religions are often viewed as oppressive to women’s sexuality and restrictive of women’s autonomy, her research illustrated how Mormon women’s sexual agency, while operating in a

1 R. Kim Davis, “I Have a Question: Are the So-called New Age Spiritual Beliefs Opposed to Christ?,” Ensign (March 1991). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1991/03/i-have-a-question/are-the-so-called-new-age-spiritual-beliefs-opposed-to-christ. Accessed November 14, 2019.

57 controlling patriarchal system, enabled them to domesticate the system, for example by claiming protection from male sexual exploitation because of the communities’ strict approaches to sexuality and chastity. The emphasis on marital fidelity can be used to set boundaries. Finlayson-Fife concluded that “the observation of sexual agency as exercised by many committed Mormon women may offer a more liberating yet legitimate model of female self-determination in spite of formal male power within the Church” (p. 237).

Jacobsen (2013) explored Mormon women’s experiences with same-sex sexuality. Her examination of narratives by such women (well-educated, Caucasian women who were raised in the church) showed a strong correlation between continued religious commitment and feelings of guilt and shame. Family and community play a major role in the process of identity development. Many women struggled with issues of guilt, shame, and self-hatred, but “women who challenged their religious identity prior to questioning their sexual identity did not experience the same level of conflict between their religious identity and sexual orientation” (p. 383).

Jacobsen and Wright (2014) followed up on this study with advice to practitioners and counselors treating these women. Aspects such as self-worth, suicidality, and the level of community and familial support are to be taken into consideration.

2.3.2.6. Space for resistance and dissent

A broader framework for the preceding is the question of how much dissent and resistance church leaders permit when it comes to feminism. Their openness, tolerance, or retribution is dependent on various factors (Bowman 2009; Lindholm 2011; Mauss 2015). I treat this aspect in more detail in Chapter 3.

Relevance for my research

Dissatisfaction over gender roles in the church and adoption of forms of resistance, subversion, and emancipation are topics that form an evident part of my research. To the extent that my respondents share such feelings and actions, the literature cited above

Dissatisfaction over gender roles in the church and adoption of forms of resistance, subversion, and emancipation are topics that form an evident part of my research. To the extent that my respondents share such feelings and actions, the literature cited above