Mormon Muffins: Too Sexy?
Some think a risqué calendar featuring 12 Mormon moms is a playful social statement. Others just find it offensive
Is this image disrespectful to Mormons?
A controversy is heating up among Mormons over a pinup calendar that toys with one of their core spiritual values: modesty. “Hot Mormon Muffins: A Taste of Motherhood” features 12 female worshippers posing provocatively in tank tops and Santa suits alongside recipes for baked treats. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has already excommunicated the project’s creator, Chad Hardy, for a previous calendar depicting shirtless male missionaries. While Hardy says he’s just trying to tweak the “stuffy” and “hyper-conservative” Mormon stereotype, some critics wish his models had kept their muffins to themselves. (Watch one Mormom Muffin mom give a baking tutorial.)
The calendar is an insult to Mormonism: “You either believe in and abide by your church and its teachings,” says JoAnne Thomas on the Right Cuisine blog, “or you remove your fanny from the congregation. ... Do we really need to sexualize a church?”
“Hot Mormon Muffins calendar”
It helps break down stereotypes about Mormon women: While the photos admittedly flout Morman modesty guidelines, says one of the models, quoted by AP, they help get across the idea that LDS women are “not all the subservient housewives that people think they are.”
“Hot Mormon Muffins pokes fun at Mormon Mom stereotype”
It’s confusing … in a good way: Given my previous personal encounters with conspicuously nonsexual Mormons, says Mark Lorenz in Manolith, the photo spreads leave me feeling disoriented, “caught somewhere between a boner and a baked good. ... I really want to buy this calendar, but really don’t want to explain to people why I did.”
“Calendar will leave you confused and hungry”
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38 Comments
Posted by Aaron, Thursday, October 29, 2009, 7:53 pm I guess I take issue with JoAnne Thomas, since Mormans are cultists, not a religion. Look up the definition of a cult and see if it fits.
Posted by Sam, Thursday, October 29, 2009, 8:54 pm This is dictionary.com's definition of a cult. A particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.So it is true to say the Mormons are a cult in that regard. As is every other RELIGION.
Posted by Erick, Thursday, October 29, 2009, 11:40 pm Does Dunkin Donuts sell these muffins?
Posted by Mike, Friday, October 30, 2009, 3:51 am I'm sorry, but those muffins look really good. Cult or not. mmmmm.
Posted by noname, Friday, October 30, 2009, 7:55 am Aaron, I think while you were in the dictornary, you should have looked up how to spell Mormon. And if you knew anything about Mormon's you would know the difference between a cult and religion.
Posted by sloagm, Friday, October 30, 2009, 11:03 am By today's standards the photoshoots are pretty tame, but on an absolute basis, and with respect to the standards church members are counseled to live by, it is highly offensive. Modesty is not anachronistic, and the calendar is not poking fun it is defiantly saying that it is okay to be publicly hypersexual and mormon...it is not. Look, mormons have sex, and by the size of mormon families, I think they have lots of it! But the mormon idea of sexuality is reserved for spouses, not for peep shows...I think I am opening a can of worms here...
Posted by sloagm, Friday, October 30, 2009, 11:41 am ...since the can of worms is out, let me elaborate. The calendar displays what mormons are counseled to avoid. I.e. images of promiscuity/porn. It is designed to sexually stimulate and while many believe this is liberating, mormon thought is that these images demean women, are addictive, belittle the sanctity of sexual relationships within marriage, create an unhealthy environment for families and kids and can lead people to break marriage vows and the risk familial trust. If this behavior creates a stereotype, I think that's a good thing.
Posted by Steve, Friday, October 30, 2009, 12:02 pm Way to go, Hot Mormon Muffins! Breaking down one stereotype about Mormon women in favor of another more offensive and demeaning stereotype about women in general.
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