Why Are Young Mormon Women Leaving the LDS Church?

Overview

The video discusses why more young Latter-day Saint (LDS/Mormon) women are leaving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It frames the trend within both:

• Recent cultural change
• Longer Mormon history, including earlier efforts to align with broader American norms—especially the idea of a “traditional family” amid U.S. culture wars over gender roles.

A key contextual point connects the discussion to fertility declines in Utah, including a New York Times report cited by the host describing a 37% drop over two decades.

Jana Ree’s central framework: “The 3 P’s”

After the host recorded an earlier video, scholar/journalist Jana Ri(e)e published an essay through Religion News Service summarizing her research and forthcoming work. In the interview, she argues that while multiple factors matter, the departures can be understood through three themes:

• Powerlessness
• Purity
• Politics

Key arguments from the interview with Jana Ree

1. A major demographic reversal in religion

Ree notes a demographic pattern shift:

• Traditionally, surveys found that women are more religious and less likely to leave than men.
• What’s notable now is a reversal, especially among younger women, who are now more likely than young men to leave religion.

2. Politics

Ree emphasizes the political component:

• Young women have moved more left politically than young men.
• Because politically liberal Americans are generally more likely to disaffiliate from organized religion, this shift helps explain the higher disaffiliation rates among young women.

3. Powerlessness

“Powerlessness” is tied to gender expectations outside the church:

• Young women grow up in a culture that affirms opportunities and equality (including leadership, careers, and participation in traditionally male-dominated areas).
• LDS teachings and Mormon gender ideology can frame inequality as divinely ordained, creating a “chasm and dissonance.”
• Ree also argues that leaving religion may carry less social cost when broader society offers women more power and options—so as equality increases outside the church, the stigma of leaving becomes easier to bear.

4. Purity culture (modesty and sexual purity emphasis)

While Mormonism has long emphasized sexual purity, Ree highlights a later intensification:

• She identifies a spike in the late 1990s/early 2000s, especially around modesty and gendered messaging about women’s bodies.
• She cites research indicating that young women received this messaging more frequently than young men during that period.
• Long-form interviews in her research (linked to her forthcoming book) suggest many young women found the emphasis damaging, outweighing any protective elements the ideology might have provided.

How LDS disaffiliation fits broader U.S. patterns (and what may be unique)

• Ree says the politics factor strongly mirrors broader American trends.
• A Mormon-specific dynamic may involve timing and theology:
  • People in Mormonism may leave later than in some other religious contexts.
  • Reconciliation can be harder because Mormon theology often links religious “growth” to divine blessing. When large numbers begin leaving (amplified by headlines and media visibility), maintaining that narrative can become difficult for some faithful members.
• Ree also notes a possible research question: the LDS Church still reports growth through conversions—but it remains unclear whether new converts stay. She suggests this needs further study.

Church responses discussed

The interview covers retention-oriented LDS strategies, including:

• Lowering the missionary age for young women
  • Ree frames this as a retention mechanism: it keeps women engaged through formative adulthood rather than allowing them to “drift” after high school.
• Other mentioned efforts include:
  • Easing aspects of temple rituals
  • Increasing women’s visibility in leadership roles
    • Example given: women serving as Sunday School president

Can policy changes stop the outflow?

Ree is cautious:

• She doubts that liberalizing certain policies within a fundamentally patriarchal system will be enough under current cultural conditions.
• She compares this to reforms in other conservative religious environments, where changes do not reliably prevent disaffiliation.
• She also highlights a self-reinforcing social dynamic:
  • As leaving religion becomes more socially acceptable, more people leave—particularly in high-demand religious environments.

Misconceptions about people who leave Mormonism

Ree (with collaborator Benjamin Nolles, a quantitative researcher) addresses common stereotypes:

• The idea that people leave mainly for sex, alcohol, or because they are offended is described as largely inaccurate.
• Many leavers are portrayed as thoughtful, offering nuanced accounts involving family relationships, faith crises, and changing views of God and religion.

She also raises a conceptual concern:

• LDS identity is often framed in a binary (LDS or not), which may push people away.
• She suggests that some may otherwise occupy a “middle” category, but the tradition lacks an equivalent pathway (compared to “Christmas/Easter” participation in some other denominations).

Overall conclusion

The video argues that young Mormon women’s higher departure rates are best explained by the interaction of:

• Political liberalization
• Gender-equality expectations
• Purity/modesty cultural messaging

This interaction creates a mismatch between LDS teachings and lived social realities. While church retention efforts may help some individuals, the host and Ree present the trend as part of a broader cultural shift affecting American religion generally.

Presenters / Contributors

• Ben (host/interviewer)
• Jana Ree (guest; scholar/journalist; author of the Religion News Service essay; co-author of the forthcoming book Leaving Mormonism)
• Benjamin Nolles (named as research collaborator/co-author; not directly interviewed in the provided subtitles)
• Dr. Kristen Kobe Dume (mentioned for a planned upcoming live conversation; not interviewed here)