Outcast Women Gender and Authenticity in Ex-Mormon Women’s Disaffiliation Narratives

Abstract

Studies on religious disaffiliation have largely ignored the gendered dynamics at play in decisions to exit and the exit experience itself. We begin to address this gap by foregrounding gender as a structuring variable in the exit process. As we examine the disaffiliation narratives of twenty formerly Mormon women—members of a women-only Facebook support group—we find that gender infuses their reasons for exiting as well as their experiences during the exit process. Concerns with authenticity feature prominently in how they narrate their deconversion experiences. We call for greater attention to the role of gender and authenticity in research on religious disaffiliation.