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When Taylor Frankie Paul, star of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, had her Bachelorette season cancelled, the discourse went OFF. And it really hasn’t stopped since. Fellow feminist writer and former Mormon Celeste Davis and I (subscribe to her fantastic Substack here) got on a live to unpack it, and what we felt was missing from the conversation.
It seemed to us that this was so much bigger than just these two people and the “drama,” but was a moment that shone a spotlight on the way that regressive gender roles and patriarchal conditioning can lead to sexism, including domestic violence. And also: how these regressive about gender are being mainstreamed everywhere right now, from tradwife babes to the White House.
Even if you’re not into the TFP or Mormon Wives discourse, there are some insights here about how patriarchal conditioning works at large—and how conservative messaging about gender roles and relationships are infiltrating pop culture—that I think will resonate with you.
Catch us in this convo discussing:
How the Mormon Wives stars were nearly all teen moms who were pressed into marriage, and how getting married young and having babies young intersects with domestic abuse.
How Scott Galloway’s “masculinity” messaging recycles religious patriarchal talking points.
That time when Taylor’s family had an intervention to slut-shame her into marrying her boyfriend Dakota (“Just try, Taylor”) even though she says again and again that she does not want to. And how centering men’s needs at all costs feels horrifying and yet relatable.
How marriage is super risky for teens and young women, but also risky for all women actually in a patriarchal society.
The Fragility of DadTok, and how patriarchal conditioning can make certain men very insecure when women make more money.
How Lindy West enters the chat, and what that discourse
has in common with Mormon Wives.
I hope you enjoy!
P.S. My apologies—I failed to turn on comments during the live event (because I didn’t know I had to do that?!) so I would love to hear your thoughts here in the comments.
What are your feelings on the on-going discourse around Taylor Frankie Paul? Do you see patterns that resonate in your own life? What do you make of the way that Mormonism has suddenly been popularized in the mainstream?
And if you don’t subscribe to Celeste’s Substack, you should! Find it here.
I also wrote about Taylor Frankie Paul in last week’s essay and video.
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