Below are the basic demographics of the sample population. There will be more discussion and analysis of a few of these in future posts, but here's the basic rundown.
The largest age groups were 25-34 and 35-44, with 45-64 also having a substantial number. As I anticipated, accessing the over 65 group was a challenge, however, 164 participants in that age category is enough to get a sense of attitudes and behaviors around garments.
The group was overwhelmingly White/Caucasian, which is in line with statistics put out by Pew Research in 2009 showing that 86% of LDS members in the U.S. are White/Caucasian. While the numbers are smaller for the other ethnic/racial groups, their responses offer insight into some specific race-related issues that Women of Color deal with when wearing garments.
The large majority of the group identified as cis-gendered women. As I noted with the other demographic data, even the small numbers of LGBTQ+ individuals surveyed offer interesting insight. I did interviews with two transgender women and I'll post about those soon. Most of the participants who marked "Other" used the write-in box as a way to let me know that there are only two genders and that they were very upset that there were other options listed. I am happy that those individuals still took the survey as I want all viewpoints to be represented, but attitudes on gender non-conforming is definitely an area that needs to be looked at in the LDS church. One other note about this question: I had originally put "Cis Woman" and then "Woman (Cis)" as the first option, but there was frequent confusion, especially from older members who are not as familiar with this term, when I was getting feedback before the survey went out. My advisor thought it best to eliminate confusion and just put "Woman" although that wasn't our first choice.
94% of participants were raised in the church, which I find to be an interesting statistic. This could indicate that those who are raised in the church are more likely to engage in LDS-centric online spaces. This could also speak to the retention rates of adult converts. Either way, most of the survey participants would have grown up hearing church messaging about garments, bodies, and sexuality- which is evident in the comments.
Reference:
"A Portrait of Mormons in the U.S.” Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project, Pew Research Center, 20 Aug. 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2009/07/24/a-portrait-of-mormons-in-the-us/#3.
Comments