Close Encounter with the Mormons

Yenlin Ku, summary of a talk at a conference on the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith, 2005

     First of all, I’d like to make a brief self-introduction. Before joining the civil service, I was a professor of women studies at National Chiao Tung University, and director of the Awakening Foundation, the first and for many years the only feminist organization in Taiwan. I belong to no religious or political groups. Feminism has been the anchorage of my values and directed my personal as well as professional growth. For a long time, Mormons meant to me two clean-cut young Caucasian men riding their bikes around, trying to convert people to their belief. I have to confess here that when they came to knock on my door, I always said, “Sorry, I’m busy.” (Actually, I was really busy.)

     I came into closer contact with the Mormons when I headed the Department of Social Services in Taipei and afterwards. What impressed me the most was that these people were really serious about doing good things, not just put on a show like most politicians do. And they always seemed warm-hearted, contended and self-disciplined. These qualities looked like an amazing combination to an outsider like me. And I’m very thankful that they were always so kind as to put up with my sometimes radical ideas and behaviors.

     Feminism taught me to set up the goal to change the people and the world that are dominated by patriarchal ideology and practice. If the division of labor is drawn along the gender line, then people of either sex would be deprived of some crucial life experience, and prevented from developing their full potentials. When all social institutions are dominated by one sex with partial life experience, some important aspects of human needs would inevitably be neglected. For instance, when women are assigned the role of caring for the old, the young, the disabled and the family, men would lose out on such human experience. As major decision makers and policy makers in society, they would be unable to respond to such basic human needs. It is no wonder that many of our social policies and programs are not pragmatic and/or wasteful. We need to educate men in the traditional women’s role of caring, and give women more opportunities of social participation and decision making, and to develop for both men and women a gender balanced view of the world.

     Through my limited contact with the Mormon Church, I found both the teachings of Joseph Smith and feminism are seeking a better world for humankind, in which there is more sharing, caring, mutual respect and love and less violence. I believe the Mormons have developed some good methods in educating their youngsters and managing their family lives. My colleagues in Taipei City Government and I had the opportunity to observe a demonstration of family night. We were deeply touched by the intimate interaction of family members, and the spirit of democracy practiced in role ex-change. I believe this weekly practice would provide a solid base for building a loving and sharing community. So we are going to introduce it to our city residents through community colleges and district offices. And in the meantime, I wonder if the concept of family can be extended a little further beyond the blood relatives. In an age when population structure and life style are changing so rapidly, we are having lower birthrate, growing number of old people, and different sexual orientations. Can we accept a broader definition of family to include foster families, collective-living families, gay families, and so on? We are in great need of foster families in this city to look after battered children and abandoned children, some of whom are severely handicapped. We also need support for single parent households, the disabled and the elderly. If the traditional families provide a vertical support system in which the older generation and younger generation support each other, is it time to consider a horizontal support system in which people of the same generation support each other within or across the family line?

     In addition to the research questions put forward by Dr. Walters, I’d like to put in front of you a very basic question, if Joseph Smith lived today, would he agree to the transgression of gender line and family line? Or gender and family could be redefined in today’s world?