The New York Times wrote about Mormon women on reality TV — and got it completely wrong.

In this episode, Jess and Hannah dissect the viral NYT article "Why Are There So Many Mormons on Reality TV?" — and what they missed is everything that actually matters.

The Times celebrates Mormon women's visibility on shows like Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City as empowerment and cultural success. But visibility isn't liberation. And uncritical trend journalism isn't the same as actually examining the systems these women are navigating.

We break down:

• The "best export" quote that accidentally reveals exactly how the church views women
• Why "elevated standards" is just trauma response rebranded as a personality trait
• How the monetization trap keeps women performing their own oppression
• Why male authority doesn't need to be visible to still be in control
• What the Times should have asked — but didn't

From the swinging scandal to Heather Gay's book to Kate Kelly's excommunication, the receipts are there. The women are telling the truth. We're just not listening the right way.

This is the episode the NYT should have written.

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Content Warning: This content may be disturbing and triggering. Viewer discretion strongly advised.

On November 23rd, 1981, in Logan, Utah, 26-year-old Rodney Lundberg placed his 11-month-old son Justin on a table, raised a butcher knife, and waited for God to intervene—just like in the story of Abraham and Isaac that he'd been taught his entire life was the "gold standard of faithfulness." God didn't stop him. Justin bled to death over two hours while family and neighbors prayed instead of calling 911.

This isn't a story about one man's mental breakdown. This is institutional analysis of how an entire religious culture enabled, validated, and ultimately protected a child killer—and then quietly sent him home after just 3.5 years.

In this episode, we dissect the Mormon theological framework that made this tragedy inevitable: the doctrine that priesthood blessings can heal any wound with sufficient faith, the teaching that Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac represents ultimate obedience, the authority structure that makes challenging male spiritual leaders psychologically impossible, and the cultural programming that prioritizes faith over medical intervention. We examine how the insanity plea allowed everyone to avoid examining the beliefs themselves, how mental health treatment within the same religious framework can never provide real accountability, and why the woman who enabled her son's death remained in a temple marriage to his killer for 28 years.

We trace the systemic protection at every level: The Mormon community that validated Rodney's "spiritual experience." The legal system that accepted an insanity plea to avoid putting doctrine on trial. The mental health professionals who shared their patient's worldview and had every incentive to diagnose individual pathology rather than institutional problem. The family pressures that made leaving impossible. The neighbors who were celebrated as faithful servants despite watching a baby die.

This case reveals the blueprint for how high-control religions handle violence committed in their name: diagnose mental illness to avoid examining doctrine, provide treatment within the same cultural framework that enabled the violence, then quietly reintegrate with minimal accountability. No jury. No cross-examination of church leaders. No public reckoning with dangerous theology. Just institutional cover at every turn.

The real question isn't "Why did Rodney do this?" It's "What theological and cultural systems made it possible for everyone around him to enable his actions?" And more urgently: How many children are currently at risk in communities where these same teachings, authority structures, and protective mechanisms remain fully intact?

How does the Mormon Church consume every aspect of members’ lives? Through unpaid labor, constant meetings, financial control, social surveillance, and the threat of eternal consequences. We break down the control mechanisms that keep members obedient—from cleaning chapels for free to sitting before disciplinary councils, from mandatory tithing to information censorship. Plus: why Utah has some of the highest antidepressant and youth suicide rates in the nation.

Whether you're questioning your faith, supporting someone who's left, or just trying to understand how high-control religions operate, this episode explains the mechanics behind Mormon obedience culture.

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Sorry for what we said when we were Mormon.