I Grew Up on Mormon

When the documentary on LuLaRoe showed up on Prime, I had to watch it. I remember the explosion of LuLaRoe leggings. It seemed like EVERYONE was selling LuLaRoe. And then it just disappeared. The documentary exposes a lot of the dark side of this company that describes itself as "multi-level marketing," which is double-speak for a pyramid scheme. And, like all pyramid schemes, those who got in early made tons of money, and those who got in too late made almost nothing — if they were lucky.

So here's the rub, the founders of LuLaRoe are both Mormons. In fact, they pushed what they perceived as Mormon teachings on the women who bought into their pyramid scheme. The women in the documentary talked about how they were told to insist that their husbands quit their jobs, so their husbands could help build the business. There was a heavy emphasis on being the "right" kind of wife, i.e., loyal, subservient, and "not smart."

I grew up in the Mormon church. My entire childhood and part of my teen years were spent in this church community. Is there a strong leaning towards valuing women as homemakers? Absolutely. Do members of the church encourage women to be loving mothers and supportive wives? Yes. But this isn't a bad thing.

When you love your spouse you are supportive. This is not the same thing as having no mind of your own. But does the world benefit from healthy, loving, and grounded marriages? I would think so. Is it really all that horrible to have women who create homes for their families? Note I didn't say these women had to be slaves to housework. But I have a hard time believing we should revile women who create healthy, homemade meals for their families and make a home that feels safe for their children.

The LuLaRoe approach was extreme. And I can't say it was ever as extreme as the Prime documentary LuLaRich implies. There were many strong, successful women in the Mormon church who had jobs and were smart, creative, and fiercely independent. These women were not shrinking violets with no opinions of their own.

I would never stick up for the behavior of the founders of LuLaRoe. They took advantage of women and created a lot of heartaches. Unfortunately, many viewers may walk away with the impression that every man in the Mormon church is controlling, misogynistic, and hellbent on controlling their wives. This is not the truth.

The truth is there are many men in the Mormon church who love, value, and appreciate their wives. It's sad and unfortunate that the founders of LuLaRoe had to be such horrible people to the women who built their business. But it is not representative of the church.

Being in the Mormon church taught me some good habits I still carry today. I learned how to save money from an early age. This has allowed me to get through life with no college debt. I learned how to grow food and prepare for emergencies. These are never bad skills. I learned the value of hard work, discipline, and succeeding on your own merits. If you ask me, these are all character traits that are worth having.

The sad and true fact is LuLaRoe was a pyramid scheme. Like many pyramid schemes, it created a lot of victims. But don't confuse greed and dishonesty with a church. You can find people from all walks of life and all kinds of religions that are horrible, greedy, and manipulative people. And it has absolutely nothing to do with the church they pay lip service to.