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Join Valerie and friend, colleague, and fellow therapist Dr. Julie Hanks for a heartfelt conversation about the address given in 1987 by Ezra Taft Benson called “To the Mother’s of Zion”, which impacted thousands of women’s experiences of motherhood for decades.
Julie and Valerie are LDS women, wives, and mothers themselves and were in their adolescence when this address was given, eventually becoming the position statement for acceptable womanhood in the LDS church for decades.
In this episode they reflect on the profound impact this talk had on their lives as young, highly motivated, but devoted-to-the-church women, navigating the complexities of emerging womanhood, their own personal hopes and dreams, and desires for both motherhood and also personal development beyond motherhood.
The fruits of this address for each of them? A lot of guilt, shame, anxiety, and fears that they were "bad” women, mothers, and daughters of God for having desires beyond that of caregiving.
In their typical respectful but direct way, Julie and Val evaluate many teachings from this talk from the perspective of psychological, developmental, spiritual, and relationship health and offer thoughts and feelings about different and healthier ways that we might model a path towards adult womanhood.
The offer hope for a wide open space where women can choose if motherhood is right for them and how motherhood might look if that is the direction they go.
They encourage courage, autonomy, personal authority, and self confidence as the foundation of healthy womanhood—whether that be full-time motherhood, a choice not to be a mother, or motherhood blended with other personal and professional pursuits.
Every choice is worthy. Because women are infinitely worthy and capable of choosing for themselves the lives they want to lead.
The talk addressed in this episode: https://emp.byui.edu/satterfieldb/pdf/tomothersofzion.pdf
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