Settling In Gently by R.A.Davis

I have to say, I was shocked to discover that Mormon widows go through a slutty stage. I mean the church-every-Sunday, garment wearing, sealed in the temple types. The things they get up to, honestly I was clutching my pearls! (And my opera glasses!!) They engage in heavy petting after playing pickleball, they hike the Y and make out in their Suburbans with divorcees they met on LDS Singles dot whatever. They enjoy necking with elder singles they find on facebook recently bereaved widows groups. Those widowers, they’re a hot commodity. They have no shortage of action.  I was in Utah right after Matt died, and all of my widow friends were nice Mormon ladies in grief. And, not gonna lie, in heat. And I love that for them!  Even though I thought it was kind of funny to hear about their moms-gone-wild-exploits, it made perfect sense to me. They've been married -- they've been sexual grownups for years or decades. And they are not messing around for the sake of it-- they are takin...

Do you know that there is a whole rich ecosphere of Mormon feminism? And it's been fermenting and mossing and mulching and growing and sprouting and reseeding along for 50 years? My mom, way back in the late 70s, was the kind of feminist it was possible for a 20 year old Mormon from Provo to be. She saw the face of God and called her Mom. These ladies were her pals. The Exponent II Magazine was founded in 1974 as a-- what is the appropriate gathering place for Mormon feminists? A Foyer? A Forest? A Grove? And these amazing women have been holding conversations and each other for decades. When the Mormon church opposed the Equal Rights Amendment, and fired BYU professors who talked about Heavenly Mother, and disfellowshipped ladies who wanted to come to church in slacks, and fought same sex marriage, the Mormon feminist forest floor was the soft mulchy place where people came to fall apart and be nourished and regrow. And I just had a piece published there! It is in the volume on th...