Item Detail
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33056
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0
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3
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English
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Contradiction among Essentialism: How Some Mormon Fundamentalists Do Gender
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Forum: Essentialism and Fluidity in Mormon Constructions of Gender
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Mormon Studies Review
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January 2022
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9
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27-40
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"That Latter-day Saint and fundamental Mormonism, alike, reinforce 'the normative ideas of what women [and men] are expected to do, and be, and think' is unsurprising. More than a mere historical footnote, however, is how differently they transmit this lesson. Within the LDS Church, women are structurally denied the ability to pursue full personhood. Dominated by mainstream Mormonism, Utah emerges, as one activist puts it, as 'the worst state in the U. S. for women... it has the largest wage gap, the fewest women on boards of directors, the fewest women in politics, the lowest college graduation rate, and in almost every measurable category, women have fared worse in a place where 93 percent of the legislature is Mormon. Conversely, 'Mormon fundamentalist women in plural marriages may experience a sense of gender consciousness within their traditional domestic roles, as well as their roles as "cowives," that is unmatched in the secular world.' They are uniquely positioned as the keepers of culture, a culture that survives in collaboration, not competition, with their sister wives. As a result, women in Centennial Park act as agents of change, far more so than their mainstream Mormon sisters. For these women, polygamy creates greater freedom for both personal and political development, even within restrictive gender essentialism." [Author]