This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I appreciated the findings by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich ("Feminism thrived amid polygamy, LDS historian says," Jan. 10) and her lack of a hypothesis. What is different is growing in recent times to feel the lack of power for women in the LDS Church. The deficiency of the basic power of the priesthood carries into the workplace, leaving women out of that power web. I sat in meeting in Sunday school where I witnessed a woman telling of her power to heal, which the teacher then denigrated, who said that women could pray but they could not anoint or use God's priesthood to heal.
If you had the misfortune of men (with the priesthood) abusing you in a home as a child or in a marriage, you did not have much power to change your life. Someone might argue that you always have a choice. That someone perhaps never had a man threaten them with their lives or the lives of their children if they made the wrong choice.
I could never believe in a way of life as a model, which promoted men controlling women's choices and power in the workplace or the home. My life is a testimony to strong women who survive a system that promotes male power.
Marilyn A. Miller, Ph.D.
Millcreek