How the ultra-traditional religion has infiltrated social media, and why it needs to stop
Illustration by Sona Eidnani.
Chances are, a Mormon has crossed your iPhone or laptop screen today — and there’s an interesting reason why.
The ever-so-prevalent church’s ideals and standards are creeping into our lives, causing damage to our already-narrow perceptions of beauty, gender, and family. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), or the Mormon Church as it’s commonly known, is a conservative church that was created in the United States in the 19th Century. Today, the church is known for its mysterious temples, strict rules (you can’t drink coffee!), and dancing moms on TikTok.
It’s not some strange coincidence that Mormonism dominates the world of social media. There are specific practices within the church which actually encourage vlogging and posting.
A key element of the church is genealogy — the practice of tracing back family histories and keeping close records of them. This is because Mormons believe in performing baptisms for the dead, where ancestors and strangers alike can be “saved.”
To complement the gathering of histories, Mormons are encouraged to closely document their lives. Young members of the church are often taught to keep diaries. It was even a Mormon in the 1980s who first invented the practice of scrapbooking.
As technology evolved, it was only natural for Mormons to begin documenting their lives with home-videos, blogs, vlogs, and eventually, social media.
Some argue that Mormonism promotes a kind of “prosperity gospel,” where financial success is considered a sign of God’s adoration. Therefore, social media proved to be the perfect place for Mormon video creators, because of the monetary reward for success. These factors make content creation the perfect breeding ground for problematic church messages to spread into our daily lives.
The LDS Church encourages its female members to strive for beauty in all that they do. Young girls are taught that their role in life is to attract and appease a husband, and their doctrine does not shy away from the idea that presenting yourself well is crucial.
As such, beauty standards are incredibly high in Mormon communities, and particularly among Mormons online. Many are already succumbing to the pressures of picture-perfect social media.
This convergence of Mormonism and media contributes to incredibly high levels of plastic surgery among Mormons, who promote these procedures, and their aesthetic results. While I sympathize with these women, I also believe we need to acknowledge how the normalization of these procedures affects audiences everywhere.
Diet culture also permeates Mormon culture, where multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs) run rampant, selling weight loss supplements and health elixirs. Many major MLMs are headquartered in Utah — the epicenter of Mormonism in the United States — and it’s for a reason. These type of companies thrive in environments with women who want to earn their own income while working from home, since Mormon doctrine discourages them from “non-traditional” female jobs.
Mormon values are seeping into our social media feeds now more than ever, especially after the hit show “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” and tradwifery becoming mainstream.
There are serious consequences to pushing heteronormative, white beauty ideals onto global audiences. What’s more is that so much of this happens without us really knowing what the root of the problem is.
For young girls who see their favourite TikTokers get married young, promise to bear many children, and get forehead Botox injections — they might have no idea that these values are set by a powerful religious organization, whose goal is to control and dominate.
