Zelophehad’s Daughters

Women Who Have Inspired Me

Posted by Lynnette

Thanks to my fabulous RS president, my ward had an RS-centric sacrament meeting last Sunday, to observe the Relief Society birthday. I gave one of the talks, and several people requested that I blog it–so here it is. (This is a longer version of the talk I actually gave, since I was trying not to [...]

And it came to pass that women were asked to pray in General Conference . . .

Posted by ZD

Just in case you haven’t seen it yet: For Mormons yearning to see women take on more visible roles in their religion, their prayers have been answered: The Salt Lake Tribune has learned that LDS women are scheduled, as of now, to offer invocations or benedictions at next month’s General Conference — an apparent first [...]

And the Evening and the Morning

Posted by Galdralag

I was in an anthropology class, studying Jewish ritual observances of the Sabbath, when the instructor asked a simple question: Why does the Jewish Sabbath begin at sunset instead of sunrise? It caught me up short. I had no idea. It’s from Genesis, he explained, from the creation narrative. Look at the wording of the [...]

Quench Not the Spirit

Posted by Lynnette

One of the warnings I heard frequently as a teenager was not to be in an environment which would drive away the Spirit. Inappropriate movies, inappropriate music, friends behaving badly—hang around with any of them, and the Holy Ghost would take off in the other direction. (Also, rumor had it that the Holy Ghost went [...]

A Mormon Story

Posted by Lynnette

Once upon a time there was an elderly woman who continually checked her mailbox. Every day, she was disappointed that she failed to get any mail (despite the fact that her mailbox was three times as big as the one next to it.) Finally, one day, she got a letter. But alas, the shock of [...]

But what do I need a man _for_?

Posted by Melyngoch

This is the question I asked last week in Relief Society.

A quick observation on a topical topic

Posted by Melyngoch

As Mormons (in fact, as Christians), we’re asked all the time to resist worldly beliefs, worldly ideologies, worldly practices, worldly what-have-you, in favor of the transcendent, absolute truth of the gospel. “Worldly” here, of course, stands for local culture with its array of conventional cultural practices that may be more or less dissonant with gospel [...]

When Someone You Care About is Depressed: Things That Have Helped Me

Posted by Lynnette

When I blog about my experiences with depression, I frequently have people ask me how they can help those in their lives who are struggling with this illness. I’m always a little hesitant to answer the question, because people’s needs can vary widely. But I figured I’d list some of what I’ve personally found helpful, [...]

If You Only Understood!

Posted by Galdralag

A few years ago, a friend of mine from Israel came to church with me. He was curious about Mormonism, and he happened to come on – you guessed it – a Fast Sunday. I prepared him ahead of time for the likelihood of congregants offering unusual personal stories from the pulpit, thinking that by [...]

This Life of Continuing

Posted by Lynnette

Last summer, I posted about some of the mental health-related challenges that I’d been facing in the previous year. It’s been about six months since I wrote that post, and I thought it would be interesting to write about some of the things that have happened since then. I saw my psychiatrist a few days [...]

When Bad Missions Get Worse: A Request for Advice

Posted by Eve

As I said in response to Galdralag’s post, my mission was a very positive experience overall, a sea change in my spiritual life. (It was also hard and unremitting, as missions are wont to be, and I’d never want to go through the daily proselyting slog again.) But in spite of my own positive experience [...]

Random Poll

Posted by Lynnette

1) What is your current occupation? 2) What would be your dream job?

Some Thoughts on the Bloggernacle

Posted by Lynnette

I’ve been thinking lately about some of the challenges of blogging. (Millennial Star recently had a really interesting discussion about Bloggernacle dynamics here, and I’ve also been thinking about some of the issues regarding audience  that Eve raised several years ago in this post. Additionally, T&S recently had a conversation about the boundaries of the [...]

Questions From and For Our Readers: Feminism and Serving a Mission

Posted by Galdralag

A few days ago one of our readers, a 20-year-old college student and feminist who is considering serving a mission, sent in some questions about feminism and missionary service. With her permission I’m posting them here for you, our excellent readers, to weigh in on: Did you know you were feminist/ have feminist beliefs before [...]

Pet Peeve

Posted by Apame

Unintentional sexism/homophobia/racism is still sexism/homophobia/racism. Well-meaning sexism/homophobia/racism is still sexism/homophobia/racism. Misguided sexism/homophobia/racism is still sexism/homophobia/racism. Ignorant sexism/homophobia/racism is still sexism/homophobia/racism   Just because something is unintentional, well-meaning, misguided, or stemming from ignorance doesn’t mean that it’s okay.

Wait … What Does that Mean?

Posted by Galdralag

The recent upset over YW General President Elaine Dalton’s BYU devotional address on January 15 (see Lynnette’s piece here, fMh here and here, and an interesting letter at Young Mormon Feminists here) centers upon a specific comment directed to LDS young women: “You will also be the ones to provide an example of family life [...]

You Just Want the Priesthood

Posted by Lynnette

In blog conversations about a variety of Mormon feminist topics, someone will occasionally stop by to say something along the lines of, “Admit it. What you really want is the priesthood.” Or perhaps, “What’s next? Women demanding the priesthood?” (I’ve noticed that this has been a particularly frequent occurrence in the infamous FB discussions of [...]

Confessions of a Conflict-Avoidant Feminist Blogger

Posted by Lynnette

Maybe this can be blamed on my being a middle child (I’m the third of seven). Or maybe it’s just a temperament thing. But whatever the cause, I would describe myself as a pretty conflict-avoidant person. I really like people to get along. Tension and fighting often make me anxious—and if I’m personally involved, they [...]

The Tracy McKay fMh Scholarship for Single Mormon Mothers

Posted by ZD

If you’re a single Mormon mother going to school, you should check this out. The Tracy McKay fMh Scholarship is a $3000 scholarship awarded once yearly, to be used for tuition, books, and supplies. For more details, see here.

Memories of an Education Week Fanatic

Posted by Lynnette

You might not guess this if you know me now, but when I was a teenager, I was a BYU Education Week junkie. (If you’re unfamiliar with Ed Week, see here.)