- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
I’m honestly more excited about the announcement for the new youth curriculum than for the missionary age change. I despise the old YW’s manual, it is so terrible and so focused on dating, marriage and the role of women. Hopefully this will shift the focus off young women getting married and onto YW and YM developing spiritually. rebeccad – Me too! I am really excited about the potential for gender equality that this change will create. Instead of men being the “RM / spiritual anchor” for their much younger wives whose highest aim was marriage, both will be equally strong, equally spiritually developed, and I am hoping much closer in age in general. Just a personal story of my first real encounter with this weird marriage dynamic. When I was at BYU as a freshman (just turning 19), there was a 26 year old male student who knew my sister (who was a 26 year old senior and my roommate at the time). He kept hanging out at our place, but I didn’t think he was that interested in my sister, and I knew she liked him, so I would try to be nice. He was always lecturing me on things like saying the word “crap” which he didn’t consider ladylike or embarrassed by me pulling my laundry out with bras and panties all mixed in while he was in the room. Truth be told, I started going out of my way to be even more “unladylike” (belching loudly in the public areas or whatever) because he was just sanctimonious and irritating. He was actually pretty cute, but his personality was a complete mismatch for me.
Anyway, I finally had had enough one day when he had crashed our Sunday dinner, and I was tired of being nice to him. I told him he had no business sitting in my apartment and eating my food while lecturing me on what he thought was ladylike. He called me later to say he was only hanging around because he liked me (not my sister), and he really wanted to go out with me. I was absolutely speechless. I asked him on what basis he could possibly be interested in me since he clearly wanted to change my personality. He really didn’t have an answer for that, and I said he should be dating girls his own age, and that it seemed to me that he only needed someone younger than him that he could boss around because he was insecure, and that I was absolutely not that girl. That’s the last I saw of that guy. Whew!
hawkgrrrl wrote:He was always lecturing me on things like saying the word “crap” which he didn’t consider ladylike or embarrassed by me pulling my laundry out with bras and panties all mixed in while he was in the room. Truth be told, I started going out of my way to be even more “unladylike” (belching loudly in the public areas or whatever) because he was just sanctimonious and irritating.
😆 My 17 yr old daughter would absolutely LOVE to have you has her YW leader (and would probably challenge you to out-belch you).Thanks for your story!
I can’t wait to see the new curriculum and hope it is changing in the right direction for YW, although my girls and I have had to trudge through the current curriculum and my girls are really out of the program now. But we had many discussions at home to reassure them they are just as important to God than the priesthood holders. I like moving towards more equality, while celebrating appropriate gender differences.
From what I’ve heard, the manuals for the YM and YW are the same now – or essentially the same. I hope that’s true. If it is, it is one of the most exciting things I’ve seen in a long time.
Old-Timer wrote:From what I’ve heard, the manuals for the YM and YW are the same now – or essentially the same.
I remember when we got married, DW had all these rainbow decorations from YW that she wanted to put around the house. They looked way too girly for me. Later when I actually got a chance to read up on the YW values, I was impressed at how applicable they are to all of God’s children. I told my wife that I was retracting my objection to the decorations, but by then she had already boxed them up/disposed of them. Live and learn.
🙄 I”m OK if my sons are taught the meaning of some of those rainbow decorations, but I’m hoping their YM activities are not about creating them for their future wife. I still like flexibility to have gender specific activities, but I LOVE the idea the the lesson manuals are gospel centered to teach things similarly, and not make the gospel gender specific. I like the way the church has made the lessons for Priesthood and RS from the same manuals, even if the classes give them their own personal touch to it. It should be the same with YM/YW.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.