sunday spotlight: erik
Sunday Spotlight is a series where we profile individuals in the Young Mormon Feminists community to hear their story and get to know them a little better through Q&A or their personal narrative. This week we talked with Erik.
I was born in Provo, on June 24th, 1993, which puts me at an even 20-years-old this year. I grew up in Utah County, mostly in Orem, and Lindon. My Dad is from Mexico, and my Mom is from Argentina (although her ethnicity is mostly European), and although I inherited my Dad’s brown skin, I tend to lean towards my (somewhat distant) Belgian heritage. My whole life, I acted all… Perfect… in church, and everybody thought I was going to go on some mission, and come back some sort of Mormon hero, but when the time came for me to put in my papers, I realized how much I needed to stay home. I couldn’t stand the thought of preaching against gay marriage, or male precedence. In March, I moved to California, because I wanted to be with my girlfriend, Violet, who had to move back home, because the Utah weather took a serious toll on her health. On April 12th, 2013, I was married to Violet (who happens to be a new member of the YMF facebook group!), and we’ve lived here in Redding, California, ever since, although we will be moving closer to San Francisco VERY SOON! I like art of all sorts. I love writing music, and I love comic books! I will admit that I’m pretty opinionated about some things, and for other things, pretty radical, but not always in the ‘cool’ way. Although, I sure hope people think I’m radical in the cool way. I couldn’t tell you what I think I’ll be doing with my life in the future.
I’ve always been a bit of a feminine guy. I grew up with four sisters, and because of that, it’s always been a lot easier for me to identify with girls, and make female friends, than do the same with other boys. I never would have considered myself a feminist, however, until a friend of mine pointed out that many people in Utah grow up with a skewed view of women, growing up thinking that it’s okay, when it clearly isn’t. I didn’t like the thought of my best friends being treated unfairly, and thinking that it was perfectly normal. I think that many of society’s rules, that differ for men and women (instead of being alike), were made up by men, and not by God. I know that my wife is my equal, and she deserves to have all of the rights that I do.
Young Mormon Feminists 
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