For decades now, Mormon women have been taught that it's better to die clean than to live an unclean life. Early Mormon teachings also prescribe that a woman will only be considered not "guilty of unchastity" if she resisted an attacker "with all her strength and energy."
Current Mormon believers, however, are calling for a serious reconsideration of these teachings, saying that it is wrong to blame women for being raped.
Michael Austin, a Mormon and a graduate of the Brigham Young University (BYU), for instance, believes that Mormon schools should reject outdated teachings that men have a natural sex drive, while women should dress modestly and act appropriately so as not to attract sexual attention.
"Some Mormons came right out and blamed women for breaking rules with the clear implication that getting raped is the punishment they deserve because they are, you know, sinners," Austin said in a post on the LDS blog, as quoted by Religion News.
He added that these teachings might prevent Mormon women who are rape victims from coming forward, out of fear of being judged that they violated their church's standards.
Meagan Leyva, a first-year student at BYU, for instance, took months before she was able to report the sexual assault she suffered at the hands of a fellow student, for fear of being ostracised by her fellow believers.
"It was January and freezing, obviously. ... I was carrying my shirt and my bra with me. I was just wearing a sweatshirt I had worn. ... It was snowing. ... It just felt so ironic because it was so white and so pure, and here I was, not pure anymore," Leyva recalled the incident.
Chicago-based Mormon therapist Jennifer Finlayson-Fife agreed that her church is wrong in putting the blame on women in sexual assault incidents such as the one experienced by Leyva.
"We want to look away from human cruelty. We want to believe somehow it was deserved or such women had it coming. ... We want to think a woman like that had more control than she had. That makes us all feel better," the therapist told Religion News.
Fife believes that her church's teachings that men are so powerless over their sexual urges should be stopped.
"They are the actors in sexual situations, but they are also taught they can't control it," she said.
She added that femininity should not be equated to being "nonsexual" under her church's teachings.
The Mormon Church has somehow taken a more compassionate stance towards rape victims. Its Handbook 1 for local lay leaders already recognises the fact that rape victims "often suffer serious trauma and feelings of guilt" and that they "are not guilty of sin."
"Church leaders should be sensitive to such victims and give caring attention to help them overcome the destructive effects of abuse," the Mormon handbook advises.
