The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender 0815395213, 9780815395218

Citation preview

Gender and sexuality give rise to passionate debates among contemporary Mormon studies scholars and the communities they study. This handbook serves as an indis­ pensable orientation to these complex issues and as a springboard for future research. I highly recommend this volume for anyone interested in the history, culture, theo­ logy, and future prospects of the Latter-day Saints. Patrick Q. Mason, Utah State University, USA

The RouTLedGe handbook of

MoRMonISM and GendeR

The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender is an outstanding reference source to this con­ troversial subject area. Since its founding in 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has engaged gender in surprising ways. LdS practice of polygamy in the nineteenth century both fueled rhetoric of patriarchal rule as well as gave polygamous wives greater auton­ omy than their monogamous peers. The tensions over women’s autonomy continued after polygamy was abandoned and defined much of the twentieth century. In the 1970s, 1990s, and 2010s, Mormon feminists came into direct confrontation with the male Mormon hierarchy. These public clashes produced some reforms, but fell short of accomplishing full equality. LGbT Mormons have a similar history. These movements are part of the larger story of how Mormon­ ism has managed changing gender norms in a global context. Comprising over forty chapters by a team of international contributors the handbook is divided into four parts: • • • •

Methodological issues Historical approaches Social scientific approaches Theological approaches.

These sections examine central issues, debates, and problems, including: agency, feminism, sex­ uality and sexual ethics, masculinity, queer studies, plural marriage, homosexuality, race, scrip­ ture, gender and the priesthood, the family, sexual violence, and identity. The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies, gender studies, and women’s studies. The handbook will also be very useful for those in related fields, such as cultural studies, politics, anthropology, and sociology. Amy Hoyt as Visiting Scholar of Religion at Claremont Graduate university, uSa. her work specifically focuses on issues of gender within Mormonism in north america and africa. She has published in Feminist Theology, Mormon Studies Review, and Gender & History. Taylor G. Petrey is associate Professor of Religion at kalamazoo College, uSa and editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. he is the author of Tabernacles of Clay: Gender and Sexual­ ity in Modern Mormonism (2020).

Routledge Handbooks in Religion

The Routledge Handbook of Muslim–Jewish Relations Edited by Josef Meri The Routledge Handbook of Religious Naturalism Edited by Donald A. Crosby and Jerome A. Stone The Routledge Handbook of Death and the Afterlife Edited by Candi K. Cann The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics Edited by Andrew Linzey and Clair Linzey The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender Edited by Amy Hoyt and Taylor G. Petry for more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-handbooks-in-Religion/book-series/RhR

The RouTledge handbook

of MoRMonisM and

gendeR

Edited by Amy Hoyt and Taylor G. Petrey

first published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, abingdon, oxon oX14 4Rn and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt avenue, new York, nY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 selection and editorial matter, amy hoyt and Taylor G. Petrey; individual chapters, the contributors The right of amy hoyt and Taylor G. Petrey to be identified as the authors of the editorial matter, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, designs and Patents act 1988. all rights reserved. no part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data a catalogue record for this book is available from the british Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data names: hoyt, amy, editor. | Petrey, Taylor G., editor.

Title: The Routledge handbook of Mormonism and gender / edited by amy hoyt and

Taylor G. Petrey.

other titles: Routledge handbooks in religion.

description: Milton Park, abingdon, oxon ; new York, nY : Routledge, 2020. |

Series: Routledge handbooks in religion | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

Identifiers: LCCn 2019055856 | ISbn 9780815395218 (hardback) |

ISbn 9781351181600 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSh: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–doctrines. | Gender

identity–Religious aspects–Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. | Gender

identity–Religious aspects–Mormon Church. | Women–Religious aspects–Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. | Women–Religious aspects–Mormon Church. |

Mormon Church–doctrines.

Classification: LCC bX8643.S49 R68 2020 | ddC 289.3/32081–dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019055856

ISbn: 978-0-8153-9521-8 (hbk)

ISbn: 978-1-351-18160-0 (ebk)

Typeset in bembo

by Wearset Ltd, boldon, Tyne and Wear

ConTenTs

List of illustrations Notes on contributors

xi xiii

Introduction Amy Hoyt and Taylor G. Petrey

1

Part I

Methodological issues

9

1 Gender and culture in a global church Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp

11

2 Race and gender in Mormonism: 1830–1978 Amanda Hendrix-Komoto and Joseph R. Stuart

26

3 Intersectionality Chiung Hwang Chen and Ethan Yorgason

38

4 femininities Amy Hoyt

50

5 Masculinities Sara M. Patterson

60

vii

Contents

Part II

Historical approaches

73

6 Joseph Smith, plural marriage, and kinship Benjamin E. Park

75

7 Mormon gender in the age of polygamy Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

86

8 Mormon women and scripture in the nineteenth century Amy Easton-Flake

100

9 Mormonism, gender, and art in nineteenth-century Scandinavia Julie K. Allen

114

10 Mormon gender in the progressive era Matthew Bowman

129

11 Mormon gender in the mid-twentieth century Colleen McDannell

143

12 Mormon feminism after 1970 Claudia L. Bushman

157

13 Gender and missionary work David Golding

169

14 homosexuality and therapeutic culture in Mormonism Eric G. Swedin

187

15 homosexuality and politics in Mormonism Neil J. Young

205

16 Mormon LGbTQ organizing and organizations John Donald Gustav-Wrathall

221

17 Mormonism, gender, and art Mary Campbell

239

18 Mormon literature and gender Fara Anderson Sneddon

258

19 Sexual purity and its discontents in Mormonism Sara Moslener

271

viii

Contents

20 Mormonism and sexual violence Andrea G. Radke-Moss

284

Part III

Social scientific approaches

303

21 Women and religious organization: a “microbiological” approach to influence Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye

305

22 Global Mormon perspectives and experiences of familial structures Caroline Kline

321

23 Structures of home and family: north america Megan Stanton

336

24 non-traditional families Ryan T. Cragun and Giuseppina Valle Holway

350

25 Social science perspectives on gender and Mormon orthodoxy Jana Riess and Benjamin Knoll

364

26 Gender and mental health in Mormon contexts Rebekah Perkins Crawford

378

27 Women’s gender roles and Mormonism in england Alison Halford

392

28 Institutional gender negotiations within Irish Mormon congregations Hazel O’Brien

405

29 Peruvian Mormon matchmaking: the limits of Mormon endogamy at Zion’s border Jason Palmer

419

30 Mormon women at work in nicaragua Amanda Talbot Tew

432

31 Mormon masculinity, family, and kava in the Pacific Arcia Tecun and S. Ata Siu‘ulua

449

32 Gendered dynamics and institutions within nigerian Mormonism Russell W. Stevenson

464

ix

Contents

Part IV

theological approaches

481

33 Scripture and gender Joseph M. Spencer

483

34 Theology of the family Rosalynde Welch

495

35 Theology of sexuality Taylor G. Petrey

509

36 Queer Mormons K. Mohrman

525

37 Trans and mutable bodies Kelli D. Potter

539

38 feminism and heavenly Mother Fiona Givens

553

39 Women and priesthood Jonathan A. Stapley

569

40 Men and the priesthood Margaret Toscano

580

41 Mujerista theology Sujey Vega

598

Index

608

x

illusTRaTions

Figures 9.1 Christen dalsgaard, Two Mormons Have … Entered the Home of a Country

Carpenter …, 1856. Image courtesy of the danish national art Museum 9.2 C.C.a. Christensen, Reunion of the Saints, 1878. Image courtesy of the

daughters of the utah Pioneers 17.1 anonymous portrait of an LdS family, busath Photography, Salt Lake City,

utah, ca. 1989 17.2 david W. Rogers (attributed), Emma Smith, ca. 1842. Courtesy, Community

of Christ Library-archives, Independence, Missouri 17.3 david W. Rogers (attributed), Joseph Smith Jr., ca. 1842 17.4 Marsena Cannon, Portrait of Wilford and Phebe Woodruff and family, 1849.

Courtesy, Ronald fox Collection, Salt Lake City, utah 17.5 effie huntington, Untitled, n.d. Courtesy, Tom Perry Special Collections,

harold b. Lee Library, brigham Young university, Provo, utah 17.6 harriet harwood, The Pumpkin and the Cauliflower (Still Life), 1892. Courtesy,

university of utah Collection 17.7 Mary Teasdel, Mother and Child, 1920. State of utah alice Merrill horne

Collection, Courtesy utah arts & Museums 17.8 Minerva Teichert (1888–1976), Loading the Ship, 1949–1951, oil on masonite,

36 × 48 inches. brigham Young university Museum of art, 1969 17.9 Trevor Southey, Eden Farm, 1971. Courtesy, Trevor Southey estate

117

120

240

241

242

244

246

247

248

250

254

tables 24.1 Current marital status of adults (18+) in the u.S., in utah, and of Mormons

and non-Mormons 24.2 household types in utah and the u.S., 2017 (aCS) 24.3 Cohabiting households in utah and the u.S. and mean number of children,

2017 (aCS) 24.4 Percentage of GSS respondents with no children by religion and marital status xi

351

353

354

354

Illustrations

24.5 Percentage of GSS respondents who have divorced by year, religion, and marital

status 24.6 number of marriages in utah and the u.S., 2017 (aCS) 24.7 Work status of participants and spouses, Mormons and non-Mormons in GSS

and utah and u.S. in aCS 25.1 Mormon testimony statements by gender 25.2 Mormon spirituality by gender 25.3 Troubling issues in the Church, by gender 25.4 Mormons and popular culture consumption in the last six months, by gender 25.5 Word of Wisdom adherence, by gender

xii

355

356

358

369

370

371

372

373

ConTRibuToRs

Julie K. Allen is the don R. and Jean S. Marshall Professor of Comparative Literature and Scandinavian Studies at brigham Young university. She is the author of Danish but Not Lutheran: The Impact of Mormonism on Danish Cultural Identity, 1850–1920 (university of utah Press, 2017) as well as many articles on danish culture, literature, film, and migration. Matthew Bowman holds the howard W. hunter Chair of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate university. he is the author of The Mormon People: the Making of an American Faith (Random house, 2012) and the co-editor of Women and Mormonism in Historic and Contemporary Perspectives (university of utah Press, 2015). Claudia L. Bushman, Wellesley College, bYu and boston university, writes on Mormon­ ism and nineteenth-century social history. a veteran Mormon feminist, she was the founding editor of Exponent II. Retired from teaching, most recently at Columbia university, she remains interested in women’s stories. She is telling her own in her autobiographical, “I, Claudia.” Mary Campbell is an associate professor of american art history at the university of Tennes­ see, knoxville. a lawyer as well as an art historian, she focuses on the intersections of american visual, legal, and religious culture. Chiung Hwang Chen is a professor of communication, media, and culture at brigham Young university–hawai‘i. her research interests include media-related religion, gender, and race issues, as well as cultural studies in the Pacific and Chinese-speaking regions. Ryan T. Cragun is a professor of sociology at the university of Tampa. his research focuses on Mormonism and the nonreligious. Rebekah Perkins Crawford earned her Ph.d. in communication studies at ohio university. She studies discourses about mental health within religious communities and focuses on how peoples’ talk and interaction enable or constrain access to formal and informal mental healthcare resources. She is a visiting professor of community and public health in the College of health Sciences and Professions at ohio university in athens, ohio. xiii

Contributors

Amy Easton-Flake is associate Professor of ancient Scripture at brigham Young university. her research focuses on nineteenth-century women’s reform literature and biblical hermeneu­ tics. her work can be found in the New England Quarterly, American Journalism, Women’s History Review, Symbiosis, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, and multiple edited volumes. Fiona Givens graduated with b.a. degrees in German and french from the university of Richmond, followed by an M.a. in european history. her work has been published with Greg kofford books, Exponent II, LDS Living, Journal of Mormon History, and Dialogue. In addition to co-writing The God Who Weeps (ensign Peak, 2012), she is the joint author of The Crucible of Doubt: Reflections on the Quest for Faith (deseret book, 2014), and The Christ Who Heals: How God Restored the Truth that Saves Us (deseret book, 2017). David Golding is a historian in the Church history department, Salt Lake City, utah. he holds a Ph.d. from Claremont Graduate university and serves as a review editor for the Journal of Mormon History. John Donald Gustav-Wrathall earned his doctorate in american social and religious history at the university of Minnesota and is author of Take the Young Stranger by the Hand: Same-Sex Rela­ tions and the YMCA (university of Chicago Press, 1998). he is a former president and served as the first full-time executive director of affirmation, LGbTQ Mormons, families & friends. Alison Halford is based at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry univer­ sity, u.k. her research interests are gender, Mormonism, religion in public spaces, and inter­ faith initiatives. Amanda Hendrix-Komoto is assistant Professor at Montana State university, where she researches the racialized intersections of sexuality and religion in the american West. her first book Imperial Zions: Race, Religion, and Family in the American West and the Pacific is forthcoming with the university of nebraska. Daniel Hernandez (Arcia Tecun) is Wīnak (Mayan) and uses the publishing name arcia Tecun after his grandmothers. he was raised in Rose Park, utah, and is married with four chil­ dren, remains a Mormon, completed doctoral research on contemporary kava, and is currently lecturing at the university of auckland. Giuseppina Valle Holway is an assistant professor of sociology at the university of Tampa. her research focuses on sexual and reproductive health, demography, and the family. Amy Hoyt is as Visiting Scholar of Religion at Claremont Graduate university, uSa. her work specifically focuses on issues of gender within Mormonism in north america and africa. She has published in Feminist Theology, Mormon Studies Review, and Gender & History. Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye is a senior lecturer in asian studies at the university of auckland. her areas of research interest include religion in China, global charismatic religious movements, and global Mormon studies. Caroline Kline is a research assistant professor in the department of Religion at Claremont Graduate university (CGu). She earned her Ph.d. in religion with a focus on women’s studies xiv

Contributors

in religion at CGu. She co-edited with Claudia bushman the book Mormon Women Have Their Say: Essays from the Claremont Oral History Collection. Benjamin Knoll is the John Marshall harlan associate Professor of Politics at Centre College in danville, kentucky. he is the co-author, with Cammie Jo bolin, of She Preached the Word: Women’s Ordination in Modern America (oxford university Press, 2018). he holds a Ph.d. in political science from the university of Iowa. Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp is the archer alexander distinguished Professor at the John C. dan­ forth Center on Religion and Politics. She also serves as the director of the Religious Studies program in Washington university in St. Louis arts & Sciences. Colleen McDannell is Professor of history and Sterling M. McMurrin Professor of Religious Studies at the university of utah. her book Sister Saints: Mormon Women since the End of Polyg­ amy (oxford university Press, 2018) won the organization of american historians best 2019 book award for u.S. Women’s and/or Gender history. K. Mohrman is a clinical teaching track assistant professor in the ethnic Studies program at the university of Colorado denver. her manuscript Exceptionally Queer: Mormon Peculiarity and US Exceptionalism argues discourses about Mormonism have played a central role in shaping culture, nationalism, and imperial power in the u.S., specifically through the (re)production of sexual normativity and racial hierarchy. Sara Moslener is a lecturer in the department of Philosophy and Religion at Central Michigan university. She is the author of Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence (oxford university Press, 2015). Hazel O’Brien is a lecturer in sociology at Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland. She has a particular interest in minority religions, and the intersections of national, religious, and ethnic identities. Jason Palmer is a Ph.d. candidate in anthropology at the university of California, Irvine. his dissertation project on Peruvian Mormon migration, kinship, and place-making was partially funded by a Global Mormon Studies Research Grant from Claremont Graduate university. Benjamin E. Park is an assistant professor of history at Sam houston State university. he is the author of American Nationalisms: Imagining Union in the Age of Revolutions, 1783–1833 (Cam­ bridge university Press, 2018) and Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier (W.W. norton/Liveright, 2020). Sara M. Patterson is a professor of theological studies and gender studies at hanover College in Indiana. She is the author of Pioneers in the Attic: Place and Memory along the Mormon Trail (oxford university Press, 2020). She also continues to write about the intersections of religion and gender and sexuality. Taylor G. Petrey is an associate professor of religion at kalamazoo College and editor of Dia­ logue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. he is the author of Tabernacles of Clay: Gender and Sexuality in Modern Mormonism (university of north Carolina Press, 2020). xv

Contributors

Kelli Potter is associate Professor of Philosophy and associate director of Religious Studies at utah Valley university. her research focuses on the philosophy of religion and Mormon theology. Andrea G. Radke-Moss is a professor of history at brigham Young university-Idaho. She has published widely on the history of women and higher education, Mormon women and sexual assault in war, and women’s experiences at the 1893 World’s Columbian exposition. Jana Riess is the author of The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church (oxford university Press, 2019). She holds a Ph.d. in american religious history from Colum­ bia university and is a senior columnist at Religion news Service. S. Ata Siu‘ulua is Tongan and doing doctoral research on Tongan families and music at the university of auckland. he was raised in South Jordan, utah. he is no longer active in the church, but considers himself a cultural Mormon, and is reclaiming his ancestral spirituality. Fara Anderson Sneddon is an independent scholar with a M.a. from bYu in american lit­ erature and completed Ph.d. coursework in multicultural american literature at the university of Georgia. Joseph M. Spencer holds a Ph.d. in twentieth-century philosophy from the university of new Mexico and is assistant Professor of ancient Scripture at brigham Young university. he is the author or editor of seven books and of many articles. Spencer serves as the editor of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies and also edits, with Matthew bowman, the book series Introduc­ tions to Mormon Thought for the university of Illinois Press. Megan Stanton is a historian of american religion and kinship. She received her Ph.d. in history from the university of Wisconsin-Madison in 2018. her research examines how nine­ teenth-century theologies of the family affected general authorities’ church governance in both the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, now known as the Community of Christ. She received the Mormon history association’s best dissertation award in 2019. Jonathan A. Stapley is an award-winning scientist and historian. his most recent volume, Power of Godliness, was published by oxford university Press in 2018. Russell W. Stevenson is the author of For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830–2013 (kofford books, 2014), winner of the 2015 Mormon history association best book award. he has authored multiple articles on race, sexuality, nigeria, and Latter-day Saint identity. a recipient of the fulbright-ddRa fellowship, he is completing his Ph.d. in african history at Michigan State university. Joseph R. Stuart is a Ph.d. candidate in history at the university of utah. his research ana­ lyzes the construction of race and gender in twentieth-century african american history. his work has been published in the Journal of Mormon History and Church History: Studies in Christian­ ity and Culture. Eric G. Swedin is a professor of history at Weber State university. his doctorate is in the history of science and technology. his publications include numerous articles, six history books, four science fiction novels, and a historical mystery novel. his website is www.swedin.org. xvi

Contributors

Amanda Talbot Tew is an independent scholar with interests in Mormon and gender studies in Latin america. She completed her Master of arts in musicology and bachelor of arts in music at brigham Young university. Margaret Toscano is an associate professor of classics and comparative studies at the university of utah. her research centers on myth, religion, and gender in both ancient and modern con­ texts. She is the co-editor of the book Hell and Its Afterlife: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (ashgate, 2010) and has published extensively on Mormon feminism for over thirty years. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is 300th anniversary university Professor, emerita, harvard univer­ sity. She is the author of numerous books and articles on early american history, women’s history, and material history. her latest book is A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women’s Rights in Early Mormonism (knopf, 2017). Sujey Vega is an associate professor of women and gender studies at arizona State university. using ethnography, oral history and archival analysis, Professor Vega’s research includes Latina/o expressions of ethnic identity, immigration politics, ethno-religious practices, and intersectional theory. Rosalynde Welch is an independent scholar of Latter-day Saint theology, holding a Ph.d. from the university of California at San diego. She is the author of numerous articles on LdS topics, and is a co-director of the Theology Seminar in Latter-day Saint Scripture, a member of the advisory board of the neal a. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, and an associate editor at the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. Ethan Yorgason is an assocaite professor of geography at kyungpook national university in daegu, South korea. In addition to Mormon studies, he is particularly interested in eastern asia’s cultural and political geography. Neil J. Young is an independent historian of twentieth-century uS politics and religion and an affiliated research scholar with the Schar School of Policy & Government, George Mason university. he is the author of We Gather Together: The Religious Right and the Problem of Interfaith Politics (oxford university Press, 2015).

xvii

IntroductIon

Amy Hoyt and Taylor G. Petrey

This volume offers specialists and general readers updated treatments of the most pressing issues in the scholarship on gender and Mormonism. It brings together the culmination of so much research over the past several decades, but also charts future directions. Building on the feminist foundations of scholarship on women, this volume also features a queer analytic and attention to men and masculinity. The designation “gender studies” refers to this expanded vision of a whole range of perspectives on sexual differences. Feminist thought is deeply important for framing this collection of chapters. Since its founding in 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has engaged gender norms in surprising and sometimes controversial ways. The LDS practice of polygamy in the nine­ teenth century both fueled rhetoric of patriarchal domination as well as gave many polyga­ mous wives greater autonomy than their monogamous peers. LDS women were present and active in suffrage, especially in the newspaper The Woman’s Exponent, and even participated in the Seneca Falls convention with their contemporary thought leaders on women’s rights. After polygamy was abandoned, the church’s conflicts over women’s autonomy continued and have become a central issue in recent decades. Feminist activists in the 1970s founded Exponent II, hearkening back to their feminist forebears, and began to publish edited books examining an array of institutional issues through a feminist lens. In the 1970s, 1990s, and 2010s, these tensions flared up when Mormon feminists came into direct confrontation with the male Mormon hierarchy. Such public clashes produced some reforms, but fell short of accomplishing equality. Gay, lesbian, and trans Mormons share a similar history of tensions with church leaders, clashes, and some modest reform. These confrontations are part of the larger story of how Mormonism has positioned itself in the context of changing gender norms in a global context. While scholars of religion and of Mormonism have long seen the importance of gender as a lens on their traditions, it has not necessarily been a reciprocal relationship from women’s and gender studies departments. Religious studies and women’s studies both came about in the late 1960s and early 1970s on college campuses, but mostly evolved as separate disciplines. In fact, the two editors of this volume were trained in the only two schools that have a women’s studies and religion program, at Claremont and Harvard respectively. Women’s studies and gender studies still rarely include scholars of religion into their academic conversations. This volume is also an effort to contribute to these conversations as well. 1

Amy Hoyt and Taylor G. Petrey

Despite the dearth of formal academic venues, the feminist intellectual revolution made its mark in all sorts of fields. Women’s studies in particular has had an important impact on Mormon studies and continues to wield influence. The second wave in the U.S. brought about revelatory and controversial books for LDS readers. These included various activist and scholarly texts, such as Sonia Johnson’s fiery, From Housewife to Heretic: One Woman’s Struggle for Equal Rights and Her Excommunication from the Mormon Church, Maureen Ursenbach Beecher and Lavina Fielding Anderson’s scholarly edited volume Sisters in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective (1987), and Maxine Hanks’ feminist anthology Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism (1992). In addition, Margaret and Paul Toscano’s Strangers in Paradox: Explora­ tions in Mormon Theology (1990) pushed on openings for women’s theological expansion and D. Michael Quinn’s Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth Century Americans: A Mormon Example (1994) challenged the heterosexualist history that preceded it. These formative texts helped set the agenda for the study of gender and sexuality within Mormonism. After several LDS scholars were excommunicated in the 1990s, presumably for their critical gaze at institutional gender norms, others working within gender studies fell fairly quiet. During this time the online community of Mormon feminists began to grow as the information age made connecting with other feminists accessible in a way that previously was not. However, most of these conversations were published in blogs, rather than within the academy. In recent years, however, gender studies approaches have become mainstream at academic conferences on Mormonism. In the past decade, even the Church History Department, the official historians of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have made women’s history a priority in hiring, publishing, and research. There are also a handful of recent volumes on Latter-day Saint women and Mormon feminism that demonstrate a renewed commitment to these topics. Ultimately, however, there has been a lag in publishing about issues of gender and sexuality within Mormon studies. The present volume seeks to accomplish two goals, (1) providing a useful overview of the study of gender in the LDS tradition and (2) charting a future for such a field of inquiry. This Handbook attempts to address the many gaps in literature that exist within Mormon studies and gender and also, when possible, help the reader understand what has already been done within the area. Some of the chapters cover well-worn topics. Others are not able to draw upon multiple published sources to talk in generalities about the trends in Mor­ monism and gender since the chapter may be the first of its kind within the academic sphere. By assembling many of the best scholars of gender and Mormonism, the editors provide a volume that brings the scholarship up to date, engages with broader questions, and demystifies the tradition to insiders and outsiders alike. From nineteenth-century Mormon feminism and suffrage movements to contemporary debates about trans identity, the contributions of this volume are timely, comprehensive, and cumulative of scholarship on these topics. Scholarship on Mormonism and gender in the past five decades has centered primarily on history, theology, and sociological approaches. In addition to these areas, this multidisciplinary volume discusses some of the foundational issues and guiding questions that stretch across these methods. Our work builds on these studies and pushes scholars and readers to consider issues in a wider and more contemporary context, including how masculinity is shaped and perpetuated historically and contemporarily within Mormonism, how sexual orientation and identity, par­ ticularly LGBTQ issues, are grappled with theologically and through lived religion within the LDS Church, and how shifting the scholarly gaze away from presumed whiteness and outside of North America adds nuance to scholarship regarding gender and sexuality within the Mormon tradition. Intersectionality in all forms is optimal and we aim to bring layered and complicated insights into topics that have been debated within Mormonism for years.

2

Introduction

Methodological issues As gender studies has developed and matured as a field of inquiry, the topics and questions have changed. This transition is reflected in the title of this volume focused on “gender,” a catch-all term for the diverse subjects and approaches. “Women’s studies” was inaugurated in response to the androcentric curriculum of history, literature, religious studies, psychology, and other fields. Pioneering scholars argued that the scholarship and courses most male faculty offered simply ignored the women who also contributed to these fields, giving students and readers a false understanding that only men were relevant agents of history and culture. In response to this pressure from (mostly) female faculty, colleges and universities around the United States and in the U.K. established women’s studies courses and eventually departments with the objective to incorporate women into the curriculum. However, the field itself has undergone radical reorganization, as the superficially simple objective became much more theoretically rich. As the field developed, it was shaped by several complexities that called into question some of the assumptions about women as a category of analysis. This challenge came from several different quarters, including non-heterosexual women, transwomen, scholars working on critiques of class, as well as non-white and global feminists who often had different priorities and perspectives than many of the white North American feminist activists. “Women” was not, it seemed, a singular category, but one that was embedded and layered with multiple other identities, and must be regionally, historically, socially, and racially located. A further development in gender studies has been the inclusion of sexuality and the inclusion of men and masculinity. As scholars of sexuality noted that the heterosexual order was closely linked with the patriarchal order, the two fields of inquiry began to overlap. Additionally, scholars increasingly began to investigate the social construction of masculinity and maleness. Rather than replicating the older androcentric approaches prior to women’s studies, masculinity studies offers a critical approach to maleness, emphasizing contested options, provisionality, and instability. This change is also reflected in the approach that many scholars of Latter-day Saint history, thought, and culture have taken in their work. Today these scholars are trained and teach in a variety of academic programs that reflect the methodological and theoretical diversity of the topic itself. Women historians in the 1970s were part of the trends of the feminist critique of academic history. Feminist theologians also became active during this period, flourishing in the 1980s and early 1990s. Attention to the social categories of femininity and masculinity mark some evolution in the field. In the 1990s, studies of LDS sexuality and masculinity began to appear. The turn to masculinity in the scholarship has produced important insights, especially about the fractured and paradoxical masculinity of LDS men in the United States. As masculin­ ity is increasingly pluriform, and as heterosexuality is decoupled from normative maleness, these tensions are increasingly acute. Today, gender studies often takes an intersectional approach to gender, seeing it as situated within broader structures like race, nationality, class, and sexuality. This sort of meta-analysis is often baked into the scholarship, not content to simply reproduce past categories and assump­ tions. Sensitive to the multiple, overlapping ways that marginalization may occur, the concept of intersectionality accounts for a more dynamic theory of subjectivity. Such a view also holds that the voices of marginalized people offer important counternarratives and ethical insights into dominant discourses. New scholarship on Latter-day Saints is taking these perspectives as a start­ ing point. The essays in this volume reflect on some of the broader theoretical and topical shifts in gender studies, including sexual violence, theorizing and complicating the supposed binary of 3

Amy Hoyt and Taylor G. Petrey

masculinity and femininity, global approaches, and intersectionality. As a global church, global perspectives are increasingly important in the study of the Latter-day Saint story. These global perspectives complicate the idea of a uniform Mormonism, as the cultural context greatly shapes how Latter-day Saints embrace and embody gender performances. Such perspectives resist essentializing cultures and recognize transnationality, migration, and postcolonialism. The global focus arises in tandem with a methodological shift that would incorporate analysis of race alongside analysis of gender. Latter-day Saint teachings about gender have often implic­ itly and explicitly been racialized by either assuming certain kinship dynamics as normal and normative or by privileging whiteness over others in practice and policy. Such analysis not only responds to the global context, but might help retell the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States. The racialized teachings about those of African descent, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders show how race and gender are necessarily intertwined.

Historical approaches Historical approaches to gender have not only been an important methodology in Mormon history, but to the field of gender studies itself. Histories of gender are keen to focus on change, development, and sometimes radical reversals. Many contemporary LDS members believe that in general, Mormon religious ideas are somewhat stable and unchanging. This includes ideas about homosexuality, modesty, race, and kinship, all of which are carefully mapped out and examined within this volume, offering readers new insights into the fragility of religious ideas and norms. History often tells a different story. The resources for doing Mormon history are incredibly rich. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is notorious for keeping meticulous records. Scholars who study members of this tradition, the largest branch of Mormonism, are fortunate to have a plethora of documents to consult. However, those that are examining gender and sexuality within the LDS Church also have a challenging time gaining institutional permission to access the records, as the more sensitive the subject matter is, the tighter the institution seems to control the information. Gender and sexuality certainly fall into this category. Scholars in the Handbook examine official church teachings as well as church leaders to grasp how the global church expanded and changed as it was steered by different men. Understanding how an institution came to be and the ideals that shaped its trajectory are important in compli­ cating historical narratives. While the LDS Church is unapologetically patriarchal, scholars can look to the shadows to sketch women’s complex lives and interactions with institutional authority. The chapters in this section reflect contemporary historical conversations in religious studies such as intellectual history, institutional history, cultural studies, and activism. Postmodern theory is a powerful analytical tool to trace how an idea has developed, shifted, and even been reconceptualized within a faith tradition. Relatedly, the poststructuralist turn towards examin­ ing and deconstructing systems of power has deeply influenced the way in which scholars approach institutional history. Since institutional self-reflection is atypical, this work serves to deconstruct the dynamics of power that are inherent in institutional life, and point towards possibilities. Within these historical approaches, many of the chapters focus on art and literature. Scholars of material and cultural studies have called attention to the salience of these objects for interpret­ ing the past. Material culture scholars approach objects as part of meaning making and within religious studies this rings particularly true. Understanding how Mormon and anti-Mormon 4

Introduction

popular literature communicated ideas about Mormon sexuality historically is important for understanding how other Americans and Europeans interacted with early Saints and draws attention to the trope of women as sexual victims of the religious elite.

Social scientific approaches The use of anthropological and sociological research is growing in Mormon studies. Social sci­ entific methods work well for studying the intersection of religion and gender and can help scholars understand how theology is being actualized by believers. In this volume, there are three main sociological methods that have been used: ethnography, lived religion, and socio­ logical surveys. While these methods have different disciplinary genealogies they share a common aim of attempting to understand both what individuals believe and how they practice their reli­ gious convictions. They differ from historical and theological methods in that they decenter the institutional narrative by looking to the people “on the ground” who are living the religion and examining what practices are being internalized, resisted, and upheld by the members. Ethnography is a method that encourages living among the people and conducting in-depth field research, including interviews and participant observation. This method aims to help schol­ ars capture the culture and worldview of those they study. Ethnography can be a method used to privilege people and groups that operate on the margins of a religious community. Within Mormonism, communities that live outside of North America fall into this category, and the further one travels from the Utah headquarters of the LDS Church the less likely one is to find communities and groups of LDS that have been studied. This volume addresses this challenge by presenting both new and expanded ethnographic research on communities in Peru, Nicara­ gua, Ireland, the U.K., South Africa, New Zealand, and more. Ethnography is also helpful when studying groups of people that are bound by identity and not necessarily living far from the geographical center of the church. In this way, non-traditional families and non-traditional expressions of gender and sexuality are captured through ethnographic methods. Coming out of the field of history of religions, the newer methodology “lived religion” seeks to decenter the narratives of religious institutions. Lived religion challenges high theology and seeks to understand how religion is actually practiced by people, not simply how it is idealized by leaders. The newest of the sociological methods in the volume, lived religion has become popular with scholars, including those who examine Mormonism and gender. Lived religion also gives scholars of Mormonism insight into how rapidly changing policies about sex, gender, and sexuality are digested and actualized by followers of the tradition. Survey research offers another approach to analyze trends and shifts among Latter-day Saints. Much of this research has been conducted through broad national surveys that sample a few Latter-day Saints. Authors in this volume also reflect new and innovative ways to fund and conduct sociological research. Crowdfunding in order to pay for professional data collection provides scholars important data that have been missing from the research. Similarly, sociologi­ cal tools give us excellent data that have been gathered by other institutions but used for varying purposes. Synthesizing these different data sets and finding patterns within the LDS population helps move the field forward in helpful ways. The important common denominator among these methods is that they aim at getting at the way in which sex and gender are shaped by institutional teachings, as understood by indi­ viduals and smaller groups within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These methods prioritize the experiences of people, and secondarily examine official texts, declarations and policy. In this way, such methods contribute to a type of “ground up” theology where adherents implement adaptations and eventually some of these shifts work their way up 5

Amy Hoyt and Taylor G. Petrey

to institutional leaders and become part of the official policy. Within the LDS Church, change is slow and there often exists a lag between the changes that members make in their lives and official acknowledgment of the social and cultural changes, let alone policy changes. Social sci­ entific data round out scholarly sources to include “real” people and give a much more robust portrait of the religion.

Theological approaches Theology is a mode of thinking that Latter-day Saints have used to explain, support, and resist the gender and sexual norms around them. At the same time, theology is often a marginal dis­ course in contemporary Mormonism. Latter-day Saints have not really engaged with broader theological movements except in niche academic venues. There are almost no trained theolo­ gians employed by the church’s curricular and academic institutions, nor have any of the senior church leaders seriously engaged with contemporary academic or political theology in their writings or sermons. Some scholars have even claimed that Mormonism has no theology. This lack of engagement with theology has happened primarily because Mormonism has populist roots that are suspicious of religious professionalism and the tradition of Christian thinking that tended to look down on Mormonism’s heterodox teachings. This has not neces­ sarily been cause for embarrassment, but rather a source of pride. Because Latter-day Saints think of themselves as distinctive religiously, they have often done theology differently as well. In this way, the study of LDS theology has to theorize up from the practices and teachings that are not expressed in these terms. A secondary, but important, reason for lack of theological engagement by feminist theorists has been the fear of suffering institutional consequences, as several academ­ ics in the 1990s experienced. LDS beliefs about gender and sexuality also rest on a theological foundation that is quite distinct from other Christian faiths. For instance, LDS theology draws on an extensive reformulation of traditional doctrines of God, including the idea that God is a male-gendered person of material substance, that he is married to a female companion (at least one), that human souls have the potential to become like God, and that there was a pre-mortal drama for human souls and an extensive elaboration of what post-mortal heavenly existence may be like. There is also additional scripture to the Bible in the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. On top of this, the teachings of past church leaders form a deuterocanonical tradition that shapes contemporary interpretations. These narratives, visions, revelations, texts, and interpretive traditions then must be reapplied to present concerns to give them meaning and relevance. While these alternative sources for theological reasoning make Mormonism distinctive rela­ tive to other Christians, not everything in LDS theologies is entirely distinctive. Indeed, despite all of these unique sources, since the outset of the twentieth century when the faith abandoned the practice of plural marriage, Latter-day Saint teachings on gender and sexuality have mirrored other conservative religious groups on issues such as birth control, sex outside of marriage, same-sex relations, transgender identity, and gender roles. The distinctive elements of Mormon­ ism’s theological tradition are nearly always put to use to make Mormonism conform to tradi­ tionally conservative social norms. Official LDS theology then uses its theological distinctiveness to emphasize aspects of its social normality by adopting conservative gender norms. The essays in this volume explore these themes, as well as more recent trends in LDS theol­ ogy on gender and sexuality that have expanded beyond the interests of North American femi­ nists. Queer, trans, transnational, racial, and class concerns have sparked new theological questions about reproduction, belonging, materiality, and essentialism. These approaches have troubled the essentialist ontology of what it means to be “male” and “female.” Gender analysis 6

Introduction

in these approaches is more intersectional, less heteronormative, and less constrained by present problems. Theology in this case is then as constructive as it is critical, seeking resources within the tradition to make the case for a more inclusive Mormonism that expresses its greatest virtues. Just as the conservative interpretations of Mormonism have mirrored broader social move­ ments, so too have the critical engagements of these teachings been influenced by modernist and postmodernist reform movements in Christianity. Indeed, the overlap over concerns between LDS women and other Christian women in North America in the last two centuries has pro­ duced a confluence of agendas, vocabulary, and perspectives. North American Mormon femi­ nists have focused much of their attention on egalitarian solutions to patriarchal Mormonism. They have focused on traditional theological resources like scripture to find alternative perspec­ tives. Mormon feminists have also focused on other concerns of Christian feminists, like gender roles, a divine feminine, and women’s ordination. These theological issues in particular have been central to Mormon feminist scholarly and activist concerns since the 1980s, but have their roots in nineteenth-century feminist agitation. In modern contexts, Mormon feminists have used the church’s distinctive teachings as a basis for rejecting conservative interpretations of gender and sexuality. For instance, the tradition of a Heavenly Mother in Latter-day Saint thought has rallied Mormon feminists to new theological possibilities for complementary egalitarianism. These feminists have also looked to early Mor­ monism and scripture as a precedent to break down the structural hierarchies that favor men in marriages and ecclesiastical settings. Thus, while challenging current practices, Mormon femi­ nists often rely heavily on Mormon tradition and sources of authority to make their claim. But these efforts have also exposed new dangers as the church has set limits about such reinterpreta­ tions of the faith. Women’s ordination has been a particular source of tension; LDS activists for women’s ordination have faced discipline from church leaders. Some church members have attempted to use these distinctive theological foundations to critique official LDS teachings on gender and sexuality. Scholarly approaches to LDS theology then seek both to elaborate how the intellectual tradition and theological framework have thought about gender and sexuality and to critically engage these teachings for alternative pos­ sibilities. This theological orientation is often critical of racialized patriarchy and/or heteronor­ mativity with a view that such ideologies are inconsistent with a more fulsome understanding of justice. Thus, rather than a secular critique, theological readings offer constructive alternatives within the tradition as a framework for internal reform.

Conclusion Scholarship and activism on gender have sometimes been in conflict, with the stakeholders prioritizing different goals. While activists are often seeking to make substantive changes to culture and institutions, many scholars are more content with accurate descriptions or theoreti­ cal musings. Within religious studies it is widely accepted that contemporary social movements in the U.S. relied upon religious actors for their success. Black churches were at the center of the Civil Rights movement and scholars have demonstrated that religious women were involved in the second wave of the American women’s movement from the beginning. Examining activ­ ism and social movements within a faith tradition also reminds the reader of the necessity of activism to bring about institutional change. The scholars in this volume represent various posi­ tions on that continuum and often hold different goals. Regardless of the competing interests, history has demonstrated that cultures and communi­ ties are reluctant to include people who seem different and activism has helped to pry open the 7

Amy Hoyt and Taylor G. Petrey

gates of privilege, even if only incrementally. There is a price within the LDS tradition for public activism and that can come in the form of one’s membership. Former LDS bishop Sam Young was excommunicated for his advocacy of curtailing the ability of bishops to interview children and teenagers about sexual matters. Similarly, Kate Kelly, who led the Ordain Women movement, was excommunicated after leading protests and inquiries requesting that the prophet and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles seek revelation sanctioning women’s ordination. Despite these excommunications, the church sometimes accommodates change. Recently the church changed the policy for one-on-one interviews by ecclesiastical leaders of young men and women, opening them up to include a third party if the parent or child request it. Similarly, women leaders in the church experienced an expanded public presence at senior and local levels. These small changes would not have occurred without activism, yet the LDS leadership discourages any type of campaigning for social change by excommunicating those at the head of the movements who are most vocal and visible and thus sending a message that if one values one’s membership, they should not publically demand/ask/beg for it. These censures always have a temporary chilling effect within the activist community but eventually a new movement is formed or reinvigorated and micro changes within the institution are often evident. What will happen as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to adapt to changing social norms cannot be fully predicted, but the conflicts over gender and sexuality have become increasingly acute in recent years. This volume contributes to an understanding of the past and the present, and offers scholars and other readers new insights for making sense of the future.

8

Part I

Methodological issues

1

Gender and culture in a

Global church

Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp

The teaching of leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on matters related to gender roles is fairly straightforward: men and women serve different ultimate purposes, both on this earth and in the life hereafter. Since 1995, as elaborated in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” official LDS teaching has declared that gender roles are both essential and eternal characteristics of individuals, attributes that shape domestic, ecclesiastic, and sacramental obliga­ tions. In this formulation, a woman’s highest calling is motherhood, and her duty if possible is to stay