From Oppressed Polygamous Slave to Homemaking Experts: How the Media Gets Religion Wrong

Last updated on: September 10, 2012 at 1:51 pm by Susanna Morrill

From Oppressed Polygamous Slave to Homemaking Experts: How the Media Gets Religion Wrong 2012-09-10T13:51:15+00:00 Susanna Morrill

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Recently, I gave a presentation on depictions of Mormon women in the print media since the late nineteenth century. A couple things struck me. First, the media has always been interested in Mormon women. Focusing on the oppression of women is one way that the journalists explored and explained how Mormonism was different and, perhaps, dangerous to the country. Writers employed what I like to call the anti-Catholic template that has been floating around in the public discourse, arguably, since British Protestants first hit ground here in North America. There are a bunch of interrelated parts in the argument, here’s some of them: the group in question is hierarchical and authoritarian, it’s out to take down the democracy of the United States, one of the ways it’s going to do this is by destroying the family, and it’s going to destroy the family by attacking the innate morality of women, especially in their roles as mothers. Nowadays, we see these parts of the argument most often employed against Islam.

This exercise also reinforced something I already knew: The media does a terrible, sledgehammer job of covering religions, religious people, and religious experiences. It usually does not contribute to civil dialogue between people of different religions. Down through the years, writers tried to fit Mormon women into this pre-fabricated anti-Catholic template, but it never quite worked (just as it never quite worked with Catholic women). They struggled to make the reality fit into the negative ideal. But Mormon women acted in ways that showed that they weren’t simply oppressed victims of an evil, authoritarian hierarchy. This did not, however, stop journalists from trying to use the defective template over and over again.
This struggle in the print media shows up early in the coverage of Mormonism. In the late nineteenth century, the New York Times was sympathetic to Mormon women at the beginning of the government’s campaign against Mormon polygamy, sure that the oppressed victims of Brigham Young would rise up and revolt now that they had the chance: “So long as Brigham Young could hold the women in subjection by the terrors of excommunication and anathemas, he and his institution of ‘plural wives’ were safe enough; but now that the fair sex are throwing off his yoke and asserting their rights, the days of polygamy are probably numbered (1).” Fifteen years later, at the peak of the legal battle between the government and the church, Mormon women as a group had not thrown off the yoke and writers were less sympathetic, perhaps confused that women were not acting according to the pre-made script. The title of an 1886 article covering a pro-polygamy rally held by Mormon women says it all: “Mormon Women Protest: Polygamous Wives Who Are Content in Their Slavery (2).”

Fast forward about one hundred years and similar confusion appears in coverage of the anti-ERA stance of the church and the work that church members were doing for and against the amendment. A New York Times article from July 25, 1977, reports how 12,000 women from the Relief Society showed up at the Utah meeting of the International Women’s Year organization and voted in overwhelming numbers to reject resolutions that supported the ERA, as well as a number of other women’s rights proposals put forward by the conference. The author is at pains to argue that this grassroots political activity by women was actually directed by authoritarian church officials (3). In a more nuanced article, Judy Klemensrud interviews then Relief Society president Barbara B. Smith who insists that the church supports women’s rights and equality but that leaders feel that it is not necessary for these rights to be protected by a special amendment. Again, the title of the article articulates the confusion of journalists: “Are Mormons Against Feminism? Not Exactly (4).”

In present day, with the growing public comfort with Mormonism, the media just isn’t that interested in Mormon women, or using them as symbols of difference and danger. When Mormon women do show up in the public discourse, journalists seem less confused and much more positive about them. In a January 24, 2012, New York Times article on Mormon food, the author notes that Mormon women are expected to fulfill traditional gender roles within the family, even if they go on to graduate school and careers, and that these roles are highly prized within the community and fulfilling for women (5). Some of these women become expert cooks and homemakers and spread their knowledge informally through such forums as blogs—celebrities in their realm of expertise.

Still, things aren’t so simple in the modern Mormon community, just as they weren’t in the nineteenth-century. A wholly positive assessment makes our discourse more civil, perhaps, but not necessarily more informed. Sometimes nineteenth-century Mormon women aggressively and publicly supported polygamy even as they privately despised the practice. Likewise, many Mormon women today have concerns about their place in the church, while still loving their religion. And non-Mormon Americans weren’t and aren’t wrong to be concerned about the well being of polygamous wives or Muslim women. As Americans, Mormons and non-Mormons, we have never been equipped to have a civil, reasoned discussion about our religious differences. I wonder if the separation of church and state—the very thing that makes it possible to have people of different religious faiths in dialogue—and our long Protestant heritage (some might argue the very thing that made this separation of church and state possible) have a lot to do with it. And it starts early. Children don’t learn about religions in school. In the public sphere, not dealing with religion seems to be the safest way to deal with religion for a people who are so used to talking about religion in Protestant, exclusivist terms. As a historian of religion, I hope this changes, but, given our history, I’m not optimistic about it in the near future. I’m afraid we’ll continue to act like the journalists who covered Mormon women down through the years—trying to fit religions into our inherited template, never quite succeeding, missing a lot, and missing a lot of opportunities for productive, open, and civil dialogue

(1) “Mormon Women Attacking Polygamy,” New York Times (August 13, 1871).
(2) “Mormon Women Protest: Polygamous Wives Who Are Content in Their Slavery,” New York Times (March 8, 1886).

(3) John M. Crewdson, “Mormon Turnout Overwhelms Women’s Conference in Utah,” New York Times (July 25, 1977).

(4) Judy Klemensrud, “Are Mormons Against Feminism? Not exactly,” New York Times (May 5, 1978).

(5) Julia Moskin, “Not Just for Sundays After Church,” New York Times (January 24, 2012).

Mormonism, politics, Romney

Previous Post

September 5, 2012

Mormonism and the Christianity Police

Next Post

September 12, 2012 Are Mormons Christians? Yes…No…and Yes

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category American society Art baptism Blogging Book of Mormon Book review Brigham Young Brigham Young University Bundy Catholicism Christianity Communalism Community of Christ conferences conversion correlation Culture denominations Digital History Discipline Councils diversity Doctrine Donald Trump education Emma Smith ethics family feminism fiction Film review food French Polynesia Fundamentalism Gay rights Gender global Gun politics Halloween health History Honor Code hymns Joseph Smith Kirtland Temple law of consecration massacre site military Ministering missionary moderate Mormon feminism Modern Mormonism Mormon origins Mormon War Mormonism Mormonism, politics, Romney Obama Peace politics Polygamy Pope Francis Poverty Prayer Priesthood Protestantism Race Religious freedom Revelation Reviews sacred sites Scientology Scripture Secularization See Stones sexual assault Star Wars television temples Tithing Utah violence war women's ordination

Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 September 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 November 2016 October 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the name of the man who suffered great loss but remained faithful to God?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Abraham Elijah Job Noah