From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #45 Reply-To: aml-list Sender: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk aml-list-digest Monday, May 22 2000 Volume 01 : Number 045 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 13:26:53 -0700 From: Rob Pannoni Subject: Re: [AML] Sexuality in LDS Lit Linda Adams wrote: > > Why is it we aren't more open about this subject? Why won't readers accept > it in Mormon literature when they will hunt down romance novels and other > "erotic" literature (albeit, perhaps, a little more secretly)? Is it a sin, > either to write it or to read it? This is a very interesting question. I recently read _Multiply and Replenish: Mormon Essays on Sex and Family_, published by Signature Books (see http://www.signaturebooksinc.com/multiply.htm). It's a mixed bag, but one of the essays I found most interesting traces the history of church teachings, practices and cultural attitudes around sexuality. It is fascinating to see the differences in perspective at different times in church history. One of the things I learned from the essay is that the Puritans get a bad rap in our popular culture with regard to being the root of extreme sexual conservatism. The Puritans did have relatively strict behavior codes, but sexual sin was considered by the Puritans to be pretty much like any other sin--something to repent of, but not really any different than other human foibles. This apparently was also the attitude in the early LDS church. Certainly it would be difficult to describe the Joseph Smith/Brigham Young era as sexually conservative. The real blame for extreme sexual conservatism (both in the church and in American culture in general) lies with the Victorians. This was a culture in which it was considered obscene to leave table legs exposed. Of course, societies that try to unreasonably suppress something invariably get more of what they are trying to surppress. Hence the Victorian era also became famous for erotic literature penned under pseudonyms or released anonymously. The ending of polygamy coincided with the rise of victorian values in America. In America, these values were a response to the fear that unparalleled freedom and the breakdown of the social institutions that traditionally punished immoral behavior would destroy the nation. Having suffered the accusations of being sexually licentious because of polygamy, church members and leaders went out of their way to show that they were at the forefront of sexual conservatism. This is one of the main factors in the church's acceptance into mainstream American culture. Over time, the word "morality" became synonymous in the church with sexual conservatism and sexual sin grew to be "next to committing murder" in seriousness. I can remember as an adolescent hearing parents stand up in testimony meeting and say they would rather have their children dead than find they had been sexually immoral (whatever happened to repentance and the atonement?). This seemed to be the prevailing view at the time. Perhaps it still is in some circles. Given this kind of cultural environment, it's not entirely surprising that church members are a little uncomfortable with sexuality. If sociological studies are to be believed, mormons are not amy more conservative in their sexual practices than the population at large. If anything, the tendency to submerge sexuality in mormon culture probably results in increased interest in the subject. And undoubtedly, it also results in increased guilt over that interest. So this presents a genuine dilemma. The only way to create what I believe would be a more healthy culture is to begin to be more open about discussing sex. That includes writing openly about sexuality in LDS literature. But doing so will most certainly offend some members of the LDS community, which I don't think any of us want to do. Even in a relatively open forum like the AML list, it is a difficult line to walk. I find myself resorting to vagueries like "conservative sexual practices" to avoid referring to any specific sexual practice that someone might find offensive (and to try not to run afoul of our brave and noble list moderator who has to deal with troublemakers like me). This actually reminds me of a sort of funny incident that I think typifies the problem. A few months ago I was sitting in the chapel before sacrament meeting talking to a young single woman, an ex-missionary, who was going to be giving a talk on chastity that day. She was trying to decide what to say and was thumbing through church panphlets looking for a quote on the subject. Suddenly, she looked up at me, shook her head, and exclaimed in exasperation, "I can't say the word 'masturbation' in church!" Of course she couldn't. But she didn't seem to have any problem saying it to a relative stranger of the opposite sex who is sitting in the chapel listening to the prelude music. The irony almost made me burst out laughing. - -- Rob Pannoni Rapport Systems http://www.rapport-sys.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 16:23:13 -0600 From: "Darvell" Subject: Re: [AML] Sexuality in LDS Lit In my unpublished LDS novel, _The Last Expedition_, my main character Jose' (a Spanish miner who comes to Utah to mine rich gold mines) ends up marrying a Ute Indian woman with whom he has fallen in love. After the indian marriage ceremony, they are led to a new teepee that has been given to them and I write about how they express their relief that they finally have some privacy to be together. They've just been married and you know what's going on. You don't always have to openly say what's going on to get your readers to understand. In this story at this time, this is important because their baby plays an important role later on. It's like the tv sitcom _Three's Company_. I watched it as a kid and really enjoyed it. Only later on did I catch some of the hidden adult themese that children don't even see. It's also kind of like the humor intended for adults in children's cartoons, like _Alladdin_. You see it if your experience allows you to see it, otherwise you completely miss it. It may be hard, but you can portray sexuality with what you don't say. I've seen this done in PG movies in an annoying way, tho, like panning the camera away from the bed and defocusing with romantic music playing. I hate that. I don't mean to direct the discussion back to the opposite of what we've been discussing, which would be putting the sexuality back into the closet - -- I'm not saying that. I think it can still be discreetly done in the open, but it probably needs to be less noticable to the naive. That way, both types of people can enjoy it. Darvell Hunt - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Darvell Hunt, Las Vegas, NV _____________________________________________ Free email with personality! Over 200 domains! http://www.MyOwnEmail.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 16:59:30 -0600 From: "Darvell" Subject: [AML] Re: Sexuality in LDS literature With the current discussion here about sexuality in LDS literature, I couldn't help pointing out that KSL TV in Salt Lake City today has done a story on what they are calling the "Sex book for LDS couples." This might have relevance to our discussion. Apparently it was written by an LDS professor. NO pictures, just text. You can see a transcript of it at the link below and even watch the KSL broadcast using a Real video player, which you may have to download if you don't have it. Here's the link: http://www.ksl.com/dump/news/cc/sexbook.htm Hopefully they won't remove the link before you can read it. Interesting, eh? I wonder if the Deseret Book here in Las Vegas has a copy? ;) Darvell Darvell Hunt, Las Vegas, NV _____________________________________________ Free email with personality! Over 200 domains! http://www.MyOwnEmail.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 16:22:11 +0000 From: John Bennion Subject: Re: [AML] Sexuality in LDS Lit In my British novel class the subject of sexuality often comes up (or I bring it up). Especially after reading books like _Tess_ or _Sons and Lovers_ . Occasionally I have a student say that reading novels grounded in human sexuality would save grief in a lot of people. I had a student who said that she was in a Tess-like situation and got herself out of it because she had read the book. Another student said she was raped and that her family should have read _Tess_ in order to understand what she had gone through. Reading novels is part inoculation, part moral exercise. So I try not to leave sexuality out of my fiction. However, I think that writing good sex (by that I mean sex that doesn't drain all the narrative tension out of a scene) is very difficult. Going back to Hardy, I think that often what is strongest is leading up to a scene but leaving the actual sexual description out (as Rex Goode just suggested). Sometimes I think that even that method can backfire and seem like teasing or toying with the reader. I think there are no easy answers. ________________ Professor John Bennion 3117 JKHB English Department Brigham Young University Provo, UT 84602-6280 Tel: (801) 378-3419 Fax: (801) 378-4705 - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 15:01:47 -0600 From: "J. Scott Bronson" Subject: Re: [AML] swim wear in Mormon literature > >Does the female swimsuit issued by the Smith > >Field House still have pants legs attached at the > >bottom? If not, when did they disappear? I need the > >approximate date for this evolutionary adaptation. > > I don't know when they disappeared, but I know that when I was going > to BYU (1991-94) there were no pant-legs on the swimsuits issued. > > Marianne Hales Harding I'll take you back even further. In 1983 I'd go to the SFH with my girlfriend to swim. When she came out of the locker room into the pool area she never had legs attached to her suit. scott bronson - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 23:38:43 -0400 From: Shawn Ambrose Subject: RE: [AML] Depictions of Jesus Here are two threads that go together: Jesus as portrayed in scripture is a compelling character, if only because he claimed to be God. We all have our own mental image of him. His personality grabs my attention; I want to understand him and to know what happens to him. One thing you can say about scriptural style: it does not leave you unaffected, for good or ill. Melinda L. Ambrose - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #45 *****************************