Mormon girls

The history of Mormon girls and Mormon views on marriage is far too rich a subject for me to node unresearched, but here is a quick summary of some relevant information. In the early days of the LDS faith (Mormonism), polygamy was advocated. Men often had many wives, and this was partially the cause of the tremendous persecution the church suffered. Some time after moving to Utah, polygamy was banished in its entirety. Some randy bastards who had joined the church for the opportunity to dominate and sleep with a large number of women, while still making it to heaven (or the Celestial Kingdom, in LDS mythology), were very upset about this and started their own splinter groups in Southern Utah. These groups still exist, and they've become increasingly decadent to the point of marrying off their daughters before puberty. This is sick and wrong, and not advocated by anybody in the Mormon church. IANAM, but I grew up in LDS central (Provo, Utah), and believe me when I say that the only mormon women I knew who married before 18 did so because of accidental pregnancy. Now, LDS women and men DO marry too early, but this is not because of any religious requirement. The reason is that LDS young men go off on "missions" for two years upon reaching age 19, where they are completely forbidden to have social contact with women other than religious discussion. This combined with the ban on premarital sex makes for a great many horny young LDS couples eagerly making babies. Please note the complete lack of cults or mysticism in this truthful explanation. Very important.

I grew up mormon. It is very hard to explain the odd vibes I always got from the women in my religion growing up. There is a lot of residual Chauvinism in the church (we men have the priesthood, the women do not). The counter force of that priesthood is the Relief Society, a society consisting of every LDS (mormon) woman of an adult age. The society is dedicated to uplifting and bettering the women and keeping the men from walking all over them. This is usually not a problem, but shit happens.

The version of the Relief Society for teenagers is the Young Woman's program. They strive to keep us (at the time) Young Men from getting them pregnant and to teach them "womanly" skills (e.g. homemaking, crafts, etc).

Being in a leadership position in the Young Men's program, I had a frequent opportunity to disagree with the Young Women. Often times it came down to a hit and punch, read in between the lines, political boxing match between myself and the women advising the Young Women. I really didn't care to oppress or belittle them. Quite the contrary. I simply found the amount of egg shells I had to walk on to avoid "looking like I might be putting SOMETHING in place to eventually undermine their authority" appalling. The whole charade got old rather quickly, hence the politics. I've noticed this several times outside the mormon religion, but generally concentrated around feminist movements. Again, not that I have anything against feminism, just when it attacks me.

These two groups are well meaning, but one can get burnt if said person sees their bad side. Hell hath no fury like an angry woman (William Congreve). And they are ALWAYS right when their leaders are gathered together.