Sunday in Outer Blogness: Boundary Maintenance Edition!

By now I imagine all of you have read Andrew’s series on boundaries in the Bloggernacle, and have read about the unfortunate attack in which the official LDS social media guys tried to pave over some real Mormon grassroots to install astroturf — a bad move for so many reasons, not the least of which is that Brooks is cleverer than the official guys. (The CoJCoL-dS’s obsession with homogeneity and with controlling who can speak, who can organize social events, and what they can say doesn’t necessarily help their image, nor even succeed in keeping the skeletons out of view.) But so much of religious discourse is focused on who’s out (including the risk of getting booted out). Dominionists, apparently, have their own mysterious and disturbing in-group language. Politics plays a big role, even for liberal denominations, and are secularists getting into the act?

Boundaries aren’t all bad — they can be healthy when appropriately applied. And attempts at communication across traditional boundaries can lead to uneven results: Gay Mormons with fundamentalist Mormons, 19th century Protestant preachers to 550 BC-era native Americans, Mormons to Shinto priests, DVD retailers to clients, God to humans, old men to young singles, door-to-door salesmen to SAHMs, former Mormons at LDS-church family reunions, clueless homophobes to gay celebrities, etc., etc.

Then we have one more round of the eternal question: Why Do Women Fight Against Their Own Interests? Why is it so hard to take care of our own needs instead of always cheering for others? Part of it is the constant “modesty” lessons with their subtext that young women should frame their sense of self based on how they appear to others (attracting men with their bodies or attracting men by covering up their bodies). Of course everyone needs human touch, whether sexual or not. If you don’t believe me, just watch Emily Pearson’s sex diaries on the Oprah Network!! In other amazing stories, a mysterious bump on the head sparked a series of events leading Therese Doucet to finish her third novel and publish her first — check it out!!

As usual, I hope you’re all having a fabulous Sunday, and if you have any comments about these stories or any others, feel free to discuss them here!! 😀