I noted today that we had no Father’s Day sacrament meeting even though we certainly had a Mother’s Day one. One more wink and nod:)

From Patriarch to Patsy

A father of three young children discovers the humiliations of being a modern dad.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124243950942426191.html

The advice to always let your wife win perpetuates — with a wink and a nudge — the notion that women are weak-minded or otherwise unable to take criticism (and that men are incapable of offering criticism with finesse). And it paints a picture of home life where the wife has the husband by the short hairs. Is everything to be sacrificed on the altar of peace in the home?

The notion that women are our spiritual superiors is just plain false. Broadly speaking, women fundamentally differ from men in their approach to all sorts of things — including their relationship to God, the spiritual realm, and religiosity — but such differences are inherent and not qualitative. Like you said: this isn’t a race. Comparisons are neither helpful nor appropriate. You might as well say “black” is better than “white” or “left” is superior to “right”.

It all sounds very much like the rhetoric of an age when women were gagged, fettered, and then placed on a pedestal — but it was okay, because they were on a pedestal. It’s nauseating.

General Authorities and their comments about the spiritual superiority of women and the odd and pervasive comments about wives always being right are as emasculating as the sitcoms.

I’ve been a member all my life and have, in all my travels, associated with thousands of other members in a broad range of locales and cultures (foreign and domestic).

Outside of the Bloggernacle (repeatedly), I have never heard any male tell me he feels emasculated by these statements. In additiion, I have never felt this way, even in the slightest. Maybe I am not competitive enough or something but I have always viewed my spirituality as a personal journey between me and the Lord – not as an exercise in spirituality comparisons.

Let’s presume for a moment that GA statements on female spiritual superiority are correct. Why would I feel anything but gladness for their good fortune? Can you explain why this is emasculating?

I wish all YM teachers would teach against those ideals, but you’re right. It is more the broader culture’s influence:)

I would see that as more of a case of the broader culture influencing our members, which it’s bound to do, rather than as a quality of Church culture per se. I know I actively teach against those kinds of cultural ideals in my YM classes, and my experience growing up in the Church led me to reject those ideals.