Dear Mitt Romney,
I have been told that you were in a position of authority
in the LDS church in the early 90s, while I was a teenager. You were in a
position of authority when the LDS church taught who knows how many
thousands of teenage girls on Sunday *in church* the following lesson:
The teacher brought out a plate of cookies. She took a bite out of one
cookie and put it back on the plate. She passed the plate around while
she taught the lesson. Each girl took a cookie, but of course, no one
took the bitten cookie. Then when the plate came back to the teacher,
she explained: "You girls are like this cookie. No righteous man wants
to take a bite out of a cookie that's already been bitten."
And this lesson:
The teacher brought out a flower. She handed it to one girl and told
the class to pass it around. They passed it around while she taught the
lesson. When the flower came back to her, it was limp, with petals
broken. The teacher explained: "You girls are like this flower. No man
wants to touch a girl who's been sullied like this flower."
And this lesson:
The teacher set out a bowl of Jello during class, a favorite snack for
many LDS members. The Jello had been made with all sorts of disgusting
things in it, dirt and string and trash. The teacher explained: "When
you let a boy touch you outside of marriage, this is what you look like
inside. No righteous man would want a girl who was like this on the
inside."
Mr. Romney, you were in a position of authority when
this lesson was taught to girls who had been conditioned to believe
every word of every lesson they received in Sunday School. You
sanctioned this; you supported it by being in a position of authority
and allowing it to happen. How can you justify that? Do you rationalize
it away? Did you even care what those girls were being taught? Did you
care what those girls who believed it with all their heart would feel,
how filthy they would feel, after an innocent kiss with a boy, after
making out in the back seat of a car, after committing what your Prophet
called a sin "akin to murder"? Did you think about how that message
would come across to girls who were sexually abused by relatives, or
girls who were raped, especially when the teachers did not make any
exception for *how* a girl became "sullied" but instead emphasized that
sex, any form of sex, even the mildest forms of sexual exploration
outside of marriage, qualified as shameful sin? Did you even care enough
to KNOW what was taught to vulnerable young girls in your church while
you were one of the leaders of that church?
Or are you, at your
core, one of those patriarchal dicks who don't care what such LDS
teachings did, and still do, to the girls who believe in the lessons the
Mormon church teaches them about their sexuality every single Sunday?
I'd like to know, because I think a lot of mothers and fathers would
like to know what you really think of the worth of their daughters
before you try to become their president.
Sincerely,
A girl who was taught that lesson
