By Layne

Layne is a stay-at-home mother of four, a Mormon, an agritainer/gentleman farmer, aficionado of good writing,good food, boots and purses. She would describe her religious beliefs as fairly mainstream with a hint of mysticism. She’s a big fan of people behaving responsibly and ethically.

I am an advisor in our ward’s Young Women program. Last night we took the girls to the temple to do baptisms and were treated to a bizarre demonstration of what felt to me like passive-aggressive unrighteous dominion, but I may be overreacting. We waited over an hour after our appointment time to start, while one of the confirmation rooms sat empty and the men in the font stood around waiting for people to baptize, and the towel lady behind the desk chewed me out when I asked for more towels because we had given our towels (“They were already GIVEN towels. They only GET ONE TOWEL!”) to the people whose appointment was a half hour after ours and yet were all confirmed and baptized before our girls started. But the strangest exchange happened right when we got there. The woman at the desk asked if we had any girls who were only being confirmed, and we confusedly answered no. She asked again, more loudly, I guess in case we didn’t speak English, and we said no again. Then she explained to our Young Women’s leader that girls who were menstruating were not allowed into the font, and could therefore only be confirmed. So Terri asked the girls if any of them were on their periods, and two scarlet-faced Mia Maids admitted that they were, but both had brought tampons. No, said the woman, they would still not be allowed to be baptized. When Terri asked why, the woman answered, “Well, if you think about it . . .”

If you think about what? If you think about the miniscule amount of blood that might get past the tampon? An amount that would not mar the white jumpsuit that they were required to wear for confirmation, but would apparently render an entire baptismal font’s worth of highly chlorinated water unusable? If you think about how dirty blood is, and therefore how dirty women are because they bleed once a month? If you think about the good old days of Leviticus when women were considered unclean while menstruating and postpartum?

I have never encountered this policy before (because I’m pretty sure it’s policy being treated as doctrine) and wondered if others had. In asking around, I found a few women who have experienced it, and one who thought it was no big deal. Internet-anecdotally it actually seems fairly common. I am flummoxed. It’s not a laundry issue, or they wouldn’t have them suit up for confirmation. Are we really depriving these young women—many of whom are desperately in need of positive experiences tied to the temple and the Gospel—of the opportunity to perform saving ordinances because they might drip blood in the water? For the sake of ick?

If so, that is not just ridiculous, but reprehensible.