Wednesday, December 21, 2005

The Veil of Anonymity

Emily Summerhays, one of the regular contributers to Feminist Mormon Housewives, introduces herself and writes a lovely article about being anonymous:
I am a proud member of my clan, and I have always wanted to do honor to my name. I would like to think that I have lived my life in a way that makes my family proud (or at least, not ashamed) to share my name. My father, in particular, always seemed so tickled when the accomplishments of his children would appear in some newspaper or another, and he never batted an eye when I did not change my name upon marriage. He raised his daughters (and his sons) to be strong, independent, thoughtful, and active—to do what we believe to be right, and do it with our heads held high. And so it was a great blow to me when my father said, upon my announcement that I would be participating permanently on FMH, “You won’t be using our name, will you?”

3 comments:

Laura Moncur said...

Her father is ashamed that she is participating in a weblog called "Feminist Mormon Housewives."

That is what's wrong with the LDS church right there.

Andrea said...

That is actually what's wrong with the perception of feminism in this country. You'd get the same reaction from any number of parents from any number of denominations (and even non-denominations). Feminism has been caricatured and demonized, based on the extremism and offensiveness of a few who claim to speak for it. For an interesting post on this topic, see Hugo's post on anti-feminist young women.

Braidwood said...

Andrea!

Yay! Thanks for the link to Hugo's post. Wow. In response to Hugo's post: When I was internet dating, if a guy said that one of his favorite books was Atlas shrugged, that was an automatic out.