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Mormon Stories Podcast

215: LDS Female Sexuality with Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife Part 2

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.55.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2010

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode Natasha Helfer Parker interviews Dr. Jennifer Finlayson- Fife, a psychotherapist on issues surrounding female sexuality and feminism within the LDS framework. Dr. Fife holds a Ph.D in Counseling Psychology from Boston College where she wrote her dissertation on LDS women and sexuality. She has taught college level classes on human sexuality and currently has a private therapy practice in Chicago. She is an active member of the LDS church. You can find more information regarding her practice, internet courses and therapy approach at finlayson-fife.com and drjenniferfife.blogspot.com. Her dissertation is available for purchase.

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:07.0

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0:14.0

Okay, so we've talked about all the feminist, I guess critiques.

0:20.0

Why don't you tell me a little bit more about the positives about, you know, what are the positives of our sexual messages?

0:28.0

Are there any positives that women can, you know, like you said, when you were an adolescent, you found some protection and some boundaries

0:35.0

that you could place around yourself that felt comfortable for yourself?

0:39.0

Sure. Well, you know, I think that for the women that demonstrated sexual agency, they were the minority of my sample.

0:47.0

But for those that, for whom it worked, it worked very well.

0:51.0

And that is that to say that, like I mentioned earlier, that they really owned the law of chastity as a system that actually protected what they most wanted.

1:01.0

What they really wanted was a committed form of sexuality, as in marriage.

1:07.0

They wanted somebody who had reserved this very sacred, vulnerable form of self-expression for the context of marriage

1:20.0

and specifically for them, that it gave them a great sense of safety.

1:24.0

And so they really cherished that cultural gift, so to speak, and said, you know, this is what I want.

1:33.0

And it's not about shame and not me not being enough. It's about my faith really giving me an opportunity that I really want for myself and for my marriage down the road.

1:43.0

So they, you know, in the case of these women, they did marry men who also had remained virginal until marriage.

1:51.0

They moved very comfortably into marital sexuality because desire was never the problem.

1:57.0

They always understood the desire was a good thing.

2:00.0

And they were able to just be excited on the wedding night, not afraid, excited that now they could move into this new domain, this new way of being together, that symbolize their union.

2:12.0

And they're this next important step in their lives.

2:17.0

So, and yes, I would say these were women that felt very comfortable that they were sexual beings, felt very clear that God was comfortable with that.

2:27.0

And saw what they had been created that way, that there was a purpose in that.

2:32.0

That's right. And that the men in their lives were also very committed to the same ideals committed to family,

...

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