http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/joannabrooks/7324/why_the_women_s_ordination_question_will_shape_the_future_of_mormonism/
I think the core of this complaint (and the core of most
feminist complaints) is that women are not being given respect, love, and
acceptance, especially from men. This
is true of men around the planet and certainly true of men inside the LDS
church (myself included). It is a serious sin to treat women
disrespectfully. Men, subscribing to
the popular sentiment of male superiority, demean, abuse, and manipulate our
sisters for selfish ends. I have been working for decades to love my
wife as she deserves. It is hard to
overcome the culture and the natural man, but I am trying, and the priesthood
has been a great help to me.
I believe that it is THE foremost duty of a priesthood
holder to discover the sanctity of womanhood and adopt “feminine” traits such
as compassion, empathy, etc. to be a true man.
Jesus Christ, the head of the priesthood, did
this perfectly. I think it is safe to say that if any woman were
in the presence of a man who has a perfect mastery of the priesthood, she would
feel so ennobled, cherished, and glorious that the thought of needing the
priesthood to obtain some sort of fulfillment would never occur to her in even
the slightest degree.
The feelings of the feminists are valid and real, and yet this
strategy to obtain the priesthood is misguided and will ultimately fail, just
as secular feminism remains largely a disappointment for women who desire to be
respected, cherished, and loved. Becoming more masculine is not what most
women want. Neither are most women
interested in tearing down true masculinity. Yes, the
mistreatment of women is a HUGE problem both inside and outside of the
church. We can try to change the
policies that appear to be lopsided, but that will not attack the fundamental
problem: men who do not honor the
priesthood, because they do not honor women or the feminine nature.
The biggest problem I see is that the world is filled with
false ideas about what masculinity is.
Both women and men have been conditioned to think that being masculine
means being violent, controlling, highly sexualized, and aloof. Pay
attention to the next movie you see.
What messages are being sent about what it means to be a man or a
woman? The messages are largely
dominated by these dysfunctional male themes.
Pornography is the worst offender.
(You want to fix the priesthood of the church? Get them to stop watching porn!) This invented problem of women holding the priesthood
is actually sidetracking us from the real problems. Let’s
talk about those and the situation for women will get better much faster.
