Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: How & Why Power Hierarchies Were Created [Part III of VI]Welcome to part three of this diving into why and how human beings create hierarchies of power.  So far in this series we have explained the psychological phenomenon itself, zoomed in on how this plays out on the ground in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and now we are going to spend the next two episodes walking through the six-step process of how humans create those groupings whom we choose to dominate, subjugate, and marginalize.This episode tackles in detail the first three steps:Mark the difference in a group of people who are unlike yourself.Stigmatize the difference.Institutionalize the discrimination practiced against the group.FRIDAY’S episode four tackles steps 4-6.In these next two episodes (today’s and Fridays) Val and Nathan will offer both historical and current examples of how each of these steps in the creation of marginalized “out-group” populations looks both within the LDS faith and in other contexts. Get ready to have your mind further expanded.Referenced in this series: Living with History: Making Social Change by Gerta LernerSupport the show**More sensitive or more psychologically advanced themes are saved for paid Friday episodes to protect the content creators from being mischaracterized by less familiar consumers.**LEARN HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO FRIDAY EPISODES(Watch a 2-minute how-to video)THEN subscribe to Fridays here. TROUBLE WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION? Email: support@buzzsprout.comCONSULTING: Interested in doing individual or couples work with Valerie or a member of her trained team? Time-limited packages with Valerie and extended work with her team of coaches and therapists are available ⁠⁠here!⁠ SUPPORT GROUPS: Next support & processing group coming March 2025. To register/learn more, visit here.OFFICE HOURS FOR FRIDAY SUBSCRIBERS: Register here.CLASSES: Visit our library.SUPPORT: Make a one-time donation to ⁠her business Venmo...

Subscriber-only episodeSend us a Positive Review!Series Title: How & Why Power Hierarchies Were Created [Part II of VI]In this episode Val and Nathan are going to talk about how the phenomenon of marginalization happens in virtually every collective unless it is consciously addressed.  In an effort to invite healing around this topic in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, they will walk through some historical and current examples such as hierarchical structures around gender, race, and sexuality.They will then break down how within the LDS church there are a variety of more subtle hierarchies and disempowered out-groups that may seem invisible because they are so entrenched in the culture and theology such as the early-returned missionaries, unwed mothers, and non-temple recommend holders.  Val and Nathan discuss these and several others to help us all see that our organization has its own idiosyncratic ways of creating “out-groups”…those who deviate from the expectations of the community and therefore are seen as (and often treated as) “other”.Their desire in shining a light on this phenomenon in this series is to help our community root out the multiple layers of hierarchy to create a community bonded not by hierarchies of powerful in-groups and powerless out-groups, but by equality and Christ-like love.   Book referenced throughout this series: Living With History: Making Social Change, by Gerta Lerner**More sensitive or more psychologically advanced themes are saved for paid Friday episodes to protect the content creators from being mischaracterized by less familiar consumers.**LEARN HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO FRIDAY EPISODES(Watch a 2-minute how-to video)THEN subscribe to Fridays here. TROUBLE WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION? Email: support@buzzsprout.comCONSULTING: Interested in doing individual or couples work with Valerie or a member of her trained team? Time-limited packages with Valerie and extended work with her team of coaches and therapists are available ⁠⁠here!⁠ SUPPORT GROUPS: Next support & processing group coming March 2025. To register/learn more, visit here.OFFICE HOURS FOR FRIDAY SUBSCRIBERS: Register here.CLASSES: Visit our library.SUPPORT: Make a one-time donation to ⁠her business Venmo...

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: How & Why Power Hierarchies Were Created [Part I of VI]In this mini-series Val and Nathan will be covering in-depth one of Val’s recent Sunstone Symposium presentations exploring the psychology around human civilization’s tendency to organize themselves into hierarchies. These hierarchies consist of an empowered group whose authority is dictated by selecting a different group over whom they dominate. These disempowered groups are sometimes called “out-groups” or “deviant others”.In Episode 1 of this series Val and Nathan will explore why collectives organize themselves into a dominating few who find identity in their rule over designated disempowered out-groups, how those in power use differences in others to dominate them, how some disempowered ‘out groups’ are common throughout time and place [gender, class, race], and how unique out-groups are arbitrarily selected within micro-cultures.This Friday’s episode Val and Nathan will discuss how this concept applies to hierarchical structures in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, both through macro-issues such as their historical and current struggles with institutional patriarchy, racism, and issues around disempowering gender and sexual minorities.Their desire in shining a light on this phenomenon in this series is to help our community root out the multiple layers of hierarchy to create a community bonded not by the division between powerful in-groups and powerless out-groups, but by equality and Christ-like love.Info on how to subscribe to listen to Friday’s episode is directly below.  See you there!Support the show**More sensitive or more psychologically advanced themes are saved for paid Friday episodes to protect the content creators from being mischaracterized by less familiar consumers.**LEARN HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO FRIDAY EPISODES(Watch a 2-minute how-to video)THEN subscribe to Fridays here. TROUBLE WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION? Email: support@buzzsprout.comCONSULTING: Interested in doing individual or couples work with Valerie or a member of her trained team? Time-limited packages with Valerie and extended work with her team of coaches and therapists are available ⁠⁠here!⁠ SUPPORT GROUPS: Next support & processing group coming March 2025. To register/learn more, visit here.OFFICE HOURS FOR FRIDAY SUBSCRIBERS: Register here.CLASSES: Visit our library.SUPPORT: Make a one-time donation to ⁠her business Venmo...

Subscriber-only episodeSend us a Positive Review!Series Title: "Tabernacles of Clay” Analysis with Taylor Petrey [Part IV of IV]Join Valerie and colleague Taylor Petrey in this final episode of their fascinating series studying Taylor's must-read book "Tabernacles of Clay": a study of the movements of the LDS church in the realm of gender and sexuality spanning the time period beginning post WWII to present.In this episode Val and Taylor address the following:A mind-bending list of proposed causes and cures forwarded by the LDS Church for homosexuality over the yearsA list of vastly varying ideas preached by different LDS general leaders about pre-mortal gender, post-mortal gender, and allowed sexual practices--illustrating the extreme shifts and changes in this area in the past 70 yearsThey also explore how an analysis of  Tabernacle’s of Clay makes explicit the tendency for humanity [including the LDS church] to scapegoat a new population of people when another group of people receives recognition for historical marginalizationThey also address the psychological phenomena of victim becoming persecutor and how this may apply to our church’s historical tendency to marginalize various populationsThe book being analyzed in this series: Tabernacles of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism, by Taylor PetreyPodcast episodes mentioned in this series:Latter Day Struggles Episode 94, Claiming Spiritual and Psychological Agency as Women in/around a Patriarchal ChurchLatter Day Struggles Episode 38, Standing up Against Chicken Patriarchy**More sensitive or more psychologically advanced themes are saved for paid Friday episodes to protect the content creators from being mischaracterized by less familiar consumers.**LEARN HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO FRIDAY EPISODES(Watch a 2-minute how-to video)THEN subscribe to Fridays here. TROUBLE WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION? Email: support@buzzsprout.comCONSULTING: Interested in doing individual or couples work with Valerie or a member of her trained team? Time-limited packages with Valerie and extended work with her team of coaches and therapists are available ⁠⁠here!⁠ SUPPORT GROUPS: Next support & processing group coming March 2025. To register/learn more, visit here.OFFICE HOURS FOR FRIDAY SUBSCRIBERS: Register here.CLASSES: Visit our library.SUPPORT: Make a one-time donation to ⁠her business Venmo...

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: "Tabernacles of Clay” Analysis with Taylor Petrey [Part III of IV]In this portion of their conversation exploring the history of gender and sexuality in the LDS church from post WWII until present, Valerie and Taylor Petrey do a deep dive into gender, sexuality and how the following historical developments, policies, and political engagement are each connected to the LDS Church’s attempts to keep in place heteronormativity due to the contagion theory of sexual orientation:Church Correlation MovementFamily Home Evening ProgramHome Teaching ProgramCollaboration with the Religious RightThe Equal Rights AmendmentProp 8The Proclamation to the World on the FamilyThe 2015 PolicyIn Friday's Final episode,  Val and Taylor wrap up this fascinating series responding to those out there who claim that “No doctrine has ever changed regarding gender and sexuality in the LDS church".  In short...nothing could be more false!They will walk you through a lengthy list of all of the ideas forwarded by various official leaders throughout the years on pre-mortal gender, post-mortal gender, birth control, sexually acceptable behaviors amongst married cisgendered people, and so much more.They also will walk you through a historical list of proposed causes and cures forwarded by the Church for homosexuality over the years.They conclude Friday’s episode on a personal note, sharing how work in this area has deeply impacted them and why they both care so much about shining a light on this history.  Its all about healing our community and helping expand our ability to love.Info on how to subscribe to listen to Friday’s episode is directly below.  See you there!Support the show**More sensitive or more psychologically advanced themes are saved for paid Friday episodes to protect the content creators from being mischaracterized by less familiar consumers.**LEARN HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO FRIDAY EPISODES(Watch a 2-minute how-to video)THEN subscribe to Fridays here. TROUBLE WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION? Email: support@buzzsprout.comCONSULTING: Interested in doing individual or couples work with Valerie or a member of her trained team? Time-limited packages with Valerie and extended work with her team of coaches and therapists are available ⁠⁠here!⁠ SUPPORT GROUPS: Next support & processing group coming March 2025. To register/learn more, visit here.OFFICE HOURS FOR FRIDAY SUBSCRIBERS: Register here.CLASSES: Visit our library.SUPPORT: Make a one-time donation to ⁠her business Venmo...

Subscriber-only episodeSend us a Positive Review!Series Title: "Tabernacles of Clay” Analysis with Taylor Petrey [Part II of IV]Join Valerie and colleague Taylor Petrey in this second episode of their series studying Taylor's must-read book Tabernacles of Clay, a study of the movements of the LDS church in the realm of gender and sexuality spanning the time period beginning post WWII to present.  In this episode Val and Taylor address the following: How ideas about homosexuality evolved from a moral issue to a legal issue to a medical issue and then to a psychological issue.How under the leadership of Spencer W. Kimball,  LDS church leaders adopted (for the first time) the role of pastoral counselor, offering advice and guidance for a variety of issues for which they had no formal psychological training.How the LDS church’s stance on homosexuality and heterosexuality as "contagious" informed many of their various ideas about its cause and cures (many of which are listed in this episode).How the church attempted to scientifically prove their stance rejecting the scientific community’s formal depathologization of homosexuality. And later admitted failure.Thank you for supporting Val's countless hours devoted guests on the podcast like Taylor Petrey to enriching your spiritual journey!  She is deeply grateful for you!!!**More sensitive or more psychologically advanced themes are saved for paid Friday episodes to protect the content creators from being mischaracterized by less familiar consumers.**LEARN HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO FRIDAY EPISODES(Watch a 2-minute how-to video)THEN subscribe to Fridays here. TROUBLE WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION? Email: support@buzzsprout.comCONSULTING: Interested in doing individual or couples work with Valerie or a member of her trained team? Time-limited packages with Valerie and extended work with her team of coaches and therapists are available ⁠⁠here!⁠ SUPPORT GROUPS: Next support & processing group coming March 2025. To register/learn more, visit here.OFFICE HOURS FOR FRIDAY SUBSCRIBERS: Register here.CLASSES: Visit our library.SUPPORT: Make a one-time donation to ⁠her business Venmo...

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: "Tabernacles of Clay” Analysis with Taylor Petrey [Part I of IV]In this first episode in a fascinating four-part mini-series, Valerie and special guest Taylor Petrey break down the historical shifts in the theology of gender and sexuality in the LDS church beginning in the post-WWII era through the present as outlined in his excellent book Tabernacles of Clay (linked below).  Questions addressed in this episode [among others]:How historical racial oppression relates to the larger picture of gender and sexual oppressionA paradox: If gender and sexuality is pre-mortal in nature, why it constantly seems to need human mediation, legislation, commandmentsHow the LDS church’s post-WWII stance on gender/sexuality is related to these same issues within larger Christian culture and are seen as a matter of national securityThe connection between the church's post-WWII stance in strong support of the patriarchal order of marriage and their polygamy legacyFriday's episode continues the conversation covering the following: Culturally and religiously evolving stances on homosexuality An exploration of the very fraught relationship between the psychological world and the Mormon ecclesiastical world in the treatment of psychological issues in general and sexual issues specificallySignificant developments in the administration of Spencer W. Kimball, the "self-help" movement and his book The Miracle of ForgivenessAn exploration of the proposed varying causes and cures for homosexuality throughout the yearsAnd more! Info on how to subscribe to listen to Friday’s episode is directly below.  See you there!Support the show**More sensitive or more psychologically advanced themes are saved for paid Friday episodes to protect the content creators from being mischaracterized by less familiar consumers.**LEARN HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO FRIDAY EPISODES(Watch a 2-minute how-to video)THEN subscribe to Fridays here. TROUBLE WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION? Email: support@buzzsprout.comCONSULTING: Interested in doing individual or couples work with Valerie or a member of her trained team? Time-limited packages with Valerie and extended work with her team of coaches and therapists are available ⁠⁠here!⁠ SUPPORT GROUPS: Next support & processing group coming March 2025. To register/learn more, visit here.OFFICE HOURS FOR FRIDAY SUBSCRIBERS: Register here.CLASSES: Visit our library.SUPPORT: Make a one-time donation to ⁠her business Venmo...

Send us a Positive Review!I see you!You're missing your Friday morning fix with Valerie and the Latter Day Struggles Podcast!Well, I gotcha covered :)This quick bonus episode walks you through step by step HOW to subscribe to the Friday episodes of this podcast no matter what provider you use (you do NOT need to listen on Spotify but you DO need to subscribe THROUGH Spotify...just to answer a question asked many, many times!) Here is the link on how to subscribeThis episode will walk you through what to do once you click this link!If you want step by step WRITTEN and visual instructions with screen shots of each page in the subscription process, click here.————————————————————————————————————— SUBSCRIBE: All Friday episodes of Latter Day Struggles can be accessed through ⁠⁠⁠⁠a paid subscription ($9.99/month)⁠⁠. Thank you for supporting Valerie’s professional commitment to your LDS Faith expansion journey!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠     ⁠⁠⁠Click here to subscribe to all Friday Latter Day Struggles Episodes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠——————————————————————————————————————SUPPORT: Like what you’re hearing at Latter Day Struggles Podcast? You can support Valerie’s efforts bSupport the show**More sensitive or more psychologically advanced themes are saved for paid Friday episodes to protect the content creators from being mischaracterized by less familiar consumers.**LEARN HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO FRIDAY EPISODES(Watch a 2-minute how-to video)THEN subscribe to Fridays here. TROUBLE WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION? Email: support@buzzsprout.comCONSULTING: Interested in doing individual or couples work with Valerie or a member of her trained team? Time-limited packages with Valerie and extended work with her team of coaches and therapists are available ⁠⁠here!⁠ SUPPORT GROUPS: Next support & processing group coming March 2025. To register/learn more, visit here.OFFICE HOURS FOR FRIDAY SUBSCRIBERS: Register here.CLASSES: Visit our library.SUPPORT: Make a one-time donation to ⁠her business Venmo...

Subscriber-only episodeSend us a Positive Review!Series Title: End of LDS Growth Analysis [Part VI of VI]Welcome to the final episode of this 6-part Latter Day Struggles mini-series featuring an analysis of the recent journal article titled, “End of Growth?  Fading Prospects for Latter-day Saint Expansion” (article in full linked below).In this final episode Nathan and Val talk about perhaps the most fascinating finding of this article, where the researchers merge administrative issues with theological issues.This episode answers the following questions:What is “Mormon Determinism”?How has Mormon Determinism potentially stimulated complacency and impeded accountability, institutional insight, and process improvement?What is “Authoritarian Positivism”?How might Authoritative Positivism be connected to the tendency for organizational leadership to disregard sound principles, relevant data and the lived experience of others who share insights contrary to cherished and long standing beliefs?How might any authority figure's claim that they are guided by the spirit of God be linked to confirmation bias and lead to one’s disinterest in other relevant data?Thank you for supporting Val and Nathan’s countless hours devoted to enriching your spiritual journey by subscribing to Latter Day Struggles Friday Episodes!  They are deeply grateful for you!!!  Link to the article analyzed in this series:The End of Growth? Fading Prospects for Latter-day Saint Expansion, by David G. Stewart, Jr., University of Nevada, Las Vegas**More sensitive or more psychologically advanced themes are saved for paid Friday episodes to protect the content creators from being mischaracterized by less familiar consumers.**LEARN HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO FRIDAY EPISODES(Watch a 2-minute how-to video)THEN subscribe to Fridays here. TROUBLE WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION? Email: support@buzzsprout.comCONSULTING: Interested in doing individual or couples work with Valerie or a member of her trained team? Time-limited packages with Valerie and extended work with her team of coaches and therapists are available ⁠⁠here!⁠ SUPPORT GROUPS: Next support & processing group coming March 2025. To register/learn more, visit here.OFFICE HOURS FOR FRIDAY SUBSCRIBERS: Register here.CLASSES: Visit our library.SUPPORT: Make a one-time donation to ⁠her business Venmo...

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: End of LDS Growth Analysis [Part V of VI]We’ve made it to episode #5 of this six part mini-series exploring LDS church growth struggles as studied in the recent journal article titled, “End of Growth?  Fading Prospects for Latter-day Saint Expansion” (article in full linked below)In today’s episode, the focus of analysis is on the following three points:The historical ‘gathering to Zion’ mentality has created isolationist culture to those gathered; has left many parts of the world with few members to grow the church; has therefore defaulted heavily on Utah-centric “world-view”, with secondary privileging of  US “worldview”; less so on the rest of the worldOccupational hazard of itinerant missionaries with low investment to quality conversion and hyper-focused on number of baptismsThe accelerated baptism program of the church which pressured all parties from mission presidents to missionaries to aggressively pressure lay people to quickly decide to be baptized with inadequate time to understand not only what they were learning about but also to acclimate to a new social network, belief system, an ideologyThe next and final episode of this series tackles perhaps the most fascinating concept explored in this report: a proposal that the LDS church's stance as God's only "true church" is at the foundation of the various administrative struggles that have impeded the church's ability to grow.Link to the article analyzed in this series:   https://jmssa.org/stewartSupport the show**More sensitive or more psychologically advanced themes are saved for paid Friday episodes to protect the content creators from being mischaracterized by less familiar consumers.**LEARN HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO FRIDAY EPISODES(Watch a 2-minute how-to video)THEN subscribe to Fridays here. TROUBLE WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION? Email: support@buzzsprout.comCONSULTING: Interested in doing individual or couples work with Valerie or a member of her trained team? Time-limited packages with Valerie and extended work with her team of coaches and therapists are available ⁠⁠here!⁠ SUPPORT GROUPS: Next support & processing group coming March 2025. To register/learn more, visit here.OFFICE HOURS FOR FRIDAY SUBSCRIBERS: Register here.CLASSES: Visit our library.SUPPORT: Make a one-time donation to ⁠her business Venmo...