MY STORY: 

• Can a Mormon be a feminist?

MY BLOG: 

I chose to write about feminism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because I was raised in the Mormon church but growing up I always noticed inequalities between women and men, especially when it came to things like leadership. To me, it is important that women are visible leaders. I wanted to see what other people thought.

I located sources in two ways. First, I utilized my contacts and they helped me a lot by pointing me in the right direction. I interviewed Dr. Martha Bradley and Prof. Margaret Toscano because they have both done research on Mormon history and feminism. I also utilized the Facebook group Aspiring Mormon Women to find people who did not have research backgrounds but instead personal experiences with the Mormon church and feminism. This is where I connected with Marjorie Smith and Joseph Peterson.

At first it was difficult to decide on a focus because after the interviews I had gathered a lot of great information. I had a lot of information on the history of feminism in the Mormon church as well as people’s personal experiences. I decided to narrow the focus to personal experiences because I believed this would be more interesting to readers. Also, I wanted to write something that had not been written before, and there has already been quite a bit of writing on the history of Mormon feminism.

The writing process was difficult. It was hard to explain some things related to the Mormon church. Since I was raised LDS, I often forget that some of the things in the religion might not make sense to others outside of it. Also, writing in a news style in which you need to be concise and quick was new to me. Overall, it was a challenging but worthwhile experience in which I got to strengthen my interviewing and writing skills and learn more about a topic I am interested in.

ABOUT ME: 

I am currently a sophomore at the University of Utah studying strategic communication. I work as the campus representative for Universal Pictures and as the social media coordinator at the Bennion Center.

I hope to work in the entertainment industry in the future. I have loved comedy and television for as long as I can remember, and I plan on focusing on these two things throughout my career. I want to create content that is uplifting and funny, while also having honest and accurate representation.