How About Some Sexy Guy GIFs for Your Monday Pick-Me-Up?

Technically it's Monday and I'm looking to brighten people's day. Last week I posted a few sexy GIFs that were popular mostly with the male readership of this blog. So today I am posting some GIFs that should make the women smile. Enjoy!

How About Some Sexy GIFs to Brighten Your Monday?

Let's get rid of the Monday blues with some sexiness! 

I'm suffering from a case of the fucking Mondays (not that kind of fucking, unfortunately) and so am looking to brighten my day. Part of my efforts have centered on looking for inspiration for my next sexy book. While I'm at it I've decided to share of my inspiration in the form of the following sexy GIFs. So sit down, get comfortable and if you prefer lock the door so you can enjoy the sexiness in privacy without interruption.

Yes, rubbing is good :D

Gravity can really be a girl's best friend! (and a guy's too, I suppose)

Hey, sometimes a girl's gotta adjust things! 

I wonder where she got that bikini? 

Have a happy Monday! Come back to relive the magic and keep coming back to my blog for more, because plenty more fun will be had here!

Where Do I Go From Here?

Now that I've published two memoirs about my experiences as a Mormon woman, I'm now trying to figure out what to do next. It's been a good feeling telling my story and educating people about what it's like on the inside of the Mormon church. I've heard from so many people who also suffered unspeakable things from the Mormon church, as well as people who want to dispatch me to hell. All in all, I would say my efforts have been successful.

So now I stand at a crossroads. Where do I go from here? I'm sure some of you want me to write another memoir, but I'm not sure I have it in me. I actually started writing a novella before I wrote When I Was a Fucking Mormon, so I've been kicking around the idea of finishing that. Would readers be interested in my fiction? And if so, what kind of fiction? I've been thinking of launching into the naughty side of things, but not with bodices tearing and all that shit. I've also thought about writing some fictional stories that incorporate Mormons, Mormon culture and Exmormons.

So many possibilities and so little time. What do you all think?

Laughing My Ass Off!

Joseph Smith "translates" the Book of Mormon with a rock in a hat

Holy shit, this month got busy and I realized I haven't written a blog post in a while. Oh well! So here I am people!

I have to say that I am laughing my ass off right now about multiple things. Here we go:

First off, it's now national news that the Mormon Church-owned NBC affiliate here in Utah, called KSL, has opted not to air yet another show. What's the offender this time? Hannibal. They were airing it until the TV writer at the Salt Lake Tribune pointed out how hypocritical they were for airing Hannibal with its violence and grotesque theme but refusing to air even one episode of The New Normal. Caught in their hypocrisy, KSL folded like a book and stopped airing Hannibal. Now that it's national news people are wondering why a church needs to own an NBC affiliate. To my great pleasure quite a few people have put two and two together and concluded that it's to control news coverage in the state! These people should also know that the Mormon church also owns a news radio station here (called KSL News Radio) and a major newspaper (called the Deseret News).

And then there's the whole thing with the Boy Scouts of America and its homophobic policies that have been in place for so long. It looks like the Boy Scouts will let gay boys be a part of the organization without making them lie about their sexual orientation. The real kicker is that the organization still will not allow homosexual leaders. Why? I haven't seen anything official, but my guess would be the theory that homosexuals "recruit" youth to their lifestyle. So basically these boys can be Boy Scouts now but when they become an adult they can have nothing to do with the organization. I guess that's the "fair" thing to do to them. And guess who is applauding this decision: the Mormon church, of course! And yet again people are wondering why the Mormon church is playing cheerleader for the Boy Scouts of America, an organization that has been implicated in all sorts of pedophilia and covering it up for decades. It doesn't make the Mormon church look very good. People are starting to see through all of the lies and deception.

Last of all, I'm laughing my ass off because the haters continue to pile one star reviews onto my first book. I think these people believe that trying to tank my book's rating score will mean people will stop reading it. The funny thing is I see a surge, literally a surge, or sales every time one of these one star reviews goes live. Why? I have my theories, but I think more than anything smart readers out there figure out there is information in the book that certain people don't want others to read and know about. I know for a fact one of my earliest one star reviews is on there because the reviewer was pissed I didn't want to fork over $2,000 for her to edit my book and that was her revenge. Of course if you do a quick Google search on her you will find out that she is an associate professor in Minnesota (she proudly touts her position as a professor in her ulterior motive review) and that she is a devout Christian. I would not doubt that several of the people who gave the book a single star did not even purchase it and are just pissed-off Mormons or their friends trying to silence any criticism of the religion. In fact in one review a lady explicitly states that she did not read the book but just hated the title. You know what I say to these people? Thank you for boosting my book's sales, you fucking idiots! Now more people than ever are seeing the truth of what it means to be a Mormon woman. Bravo!

And so I am laughing my fucking ass off this week.

The Mormon Tolerance Trap

In case you missed it, the next man in line to be the leader of the Mormon church, Boyd K. Packer, declared  last weekend that "Tolerance is a virtue, but, like all virtues, when exaggerated it transforms itself into a vice." It didn't take long for Mormons to start rejoicing with their leader, declaring that all of this tolerance of various groups of people, practices or whatever else they don't like about modern society should be stopped this instant. 

One only has to do a quick search on the Internet or Twitter to see some of the things faithful Mormons are saying about Packer's tolerance trap address. Even if Mormons disagree that tolerance can turn into a vice if taken too far (I'm still not sure that is possible) they certainly won't voice their disagreement in public, especially on the Internet where their comments can be preserved and used against them later. The Mormon church has a storied past of purging members who dare publicly oppose top leaders' agendas, like when many Mormon feminists were publicly excommunicated in the early 1990s, including several BYU professors were fired for even suggesting women should be treated with equality in the Mormon church. 

Speaking of that, last weekend a group of Mormon women and men met to show support for women receiving the priesthood, which would mean women leaders in the Mormon church who do more than put together care packs or teach children songs. I'm still thinking that whole movement will end poorly, although the increased media scrutiny of the Mormon church thanks to Mitt Romney's failure to become the president of the United States. 

But back to Packer's talk. His talk of the "tolerance trap" followed commentary about the United States legalizing "immoral behavior." It was a huge dog whistle for the Mormon faithful, who all knew Packer was talking specifically about gay marriage. In case you don't recall, the Mormon church waged all-out war in California over Prop 8, and received all-out war from homosexual groups in return. The funny thing is the Mormon church has stayed out of similar battles in other states since. These latest comments from Packer indicate top Mormon leadership have finally realized they are fighting a losing battle. 

What really gets me is this use of the word "tolerate." Packer could have easily said "accept" instead of "tolerate." According to Dictionary.com, tolerance means:  a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry. Interesting, isn't it? 

Years ago I remember something in the news about some Mormon youth group that volunteered at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter that was run by another church. When the Mormon youth showed up and the director or the facility found out where they were from, he turned them away. Questioned by the media, the director said something to the effect of he could not tolerate Mormons and their differing opinions on Jesus and such, so he couldn't have them serving up food to homeless people. Mormons were absolutely outraged by his comments. I remember people bringing up that he should tolerate other groups helping with charitable efforts, since that tolerance was not a display of acceptance for those groups' beliefs. It's interesting how, with the tables turned, Mormons are going to be hypocrites and not dole out tolerance in a world that's starved for it. 

I think the real trap for Mormons and others is to not be more tolerant. It's a "tolerance trap" when we act with vile hatred toward those who don't think and live just like us, simply because it offends our sensibilities. Tolerance and acceptance are two different things, Boyd K. Packer. Perhaps I will send you a dictionary with the terms highlighted so you can learn something. 

Mormons, Women, Feminism and the Priesthood

Anyone who knows much about Mormons know they are highly dedicated to their patriarchy. Yes, that's right, the men are the leaders and call all of the shots in the church. Sure, women can be leaders, but only over groups of just women or children. All high level decisions ultimately are made or approved by the men.

Why is it that just men get to have the power to lead, or the priesthood? There is a whole deluge of Mormon "scholarship" on this topic with all kinds of interesting justifications. It doesn't really in the end matter what the reasons are, what matters is what this does to the Mormon culture. Men are given almost unquestionable power from on high when women are not. Women are patronized with talk about their power to birth children or to influence their husband who is in a high position of leadership, but that's about it.

This is why when I read in the Salt Lake Tribune that there is a grassroots movement in the Mormon church to push for women being ordained to the priesthood I stood up and paid attention. Could this be the end of the reign of men over women? Will Mormon leaders finally begin to see that an all-male leadership is damaging to not only women and young girls but also to men and young boys?

While I personally have my strong doubts about the likelihood of the Mormon Men's Club letting women in to play, this will be interesting to watch play out. Will this lead to another wave of very public excommunications like the feminist house cleaning that happened in the Mormon church in the early 1990s? The church is under the media's scrutiny more than ever, and a growing number of women are bringing in a significant portion of their family's income, which of course translates into tithing money and other donations the church depends so much on.

Where do you all think this will end up? Will it be mass excommunications or a gradual shift toward female priesthood ordinations?

Utah and Alcohol: the Odd Couple

Over the weekend I ran across another of Pat Bagley's Living History articles that regularly run in the Salt Lake Tribune, which are always brilliantly insightful. This particular article was about the odd history of Utah and alcohol. You can read Bagley's brilliant article here.

Despite what people who live both inside and outside of Utah might think, the Mormon church was not always so opposed to the consumption of alcohol. The dietary law Mormons follow, called the Word of Wisdom, was merely a suggestion or good advice for quite some time after it was given by Joseph Smith. As Bagley points out, it wasn't until Heber J. Grant, the Mormon church president (called a "prophet" by the faithful) that alcohol made it onto the list of evils Mormons weren't supposed to partake of. In fact, Mormons would openly drink and run breweries in the early days of Utah.

Nowadays Utah has some of the strangest liquor laws out of any state in the United States. It's not that there aren't other places with weird liquor laws, but Utah definitely has some strange ones. Virtually all liquor stores are run by the state and you can't buy anything but beer in the grocery stores. If you really need a bottle of Merlot on a Sunday afternoon you are just plain out of luck since the liquor stores aren't open on Sundays (because that's the Lord's day, according to the state/church conglomeration here). Drinks cannot be mixed in restaurants within the view of the public, so there are partitions nicknamed "Zions Curtain" to keep those temptress bartenders and their drink mixing from public view. Personally, I think this idea came after some Utah lawmakers watched Cocktail with Tom Cruise one too many times (because I needed a few drinks after watching that movie).

There are even cities in the state that have made it illegal to buy beer at a gas station or grocery store on Sundays. Liquor licenses are incredibly hard to obtain here and there are many, many hoops to jump through to get and keep them (more than in most states). You can read more about the liquor laws in Utah here.

Most people alive today would be surprised to find out that Utah was the key state that voted to end Prohibition in the United States by being the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment. Apparently during Prohibition alcohol flowed quite freely in the state through a large network of speakeasies scattered in different cities.

Since that time the Mormon church has gone to great lengths to wrestle control of liquor laws and to guilt Mormons who dare to consider having a beer or glass of wine even on occasion. In fact now drinking alcohol is consider a sin in Mormon theology, one that is so grave there aren't too many that are more serious  (like having sex outside of marriage or murder). But go to a state-run liquor store pretty much any night of the week and especially on a Saturday, and you will find all of those places hopping with activity. The state of Utah makes a considerable amount of tax revenue off of something that is considered sinful by the Mormon church, instead of banning the substance altogether (thanks to Utahans so long ago). Really the relationship between Utah and alcohol is deeper and more interesting than most would assume.