One of Many Reasons Why I Am No Longer LDS

I woke up this Mormon thinking about how "Mormon Feminism" is an oxymoron.  This subject has been festering in my mind for decades--long before I ceased to be LDS and long after I ceased to attempt to be a "Mormom feminist".  I think my subconscious may have finally risen up to clarify, at least for myself, this issue.  It may have been triggered by recent articles about "Mormon feminism", including references to blogs, websites, etc. devoted to the same.
It is not possible to be a "real feminist", believing in genuine equality between male and female, and a "true Mormon" at the same time.  The doctrines, practices and scriptures of the LDS church preclude that.  Since the days of Joseph Smith, jr. women cannot hold the priesthood, have less power and authority than their 12 yr. old sons, and can only "partake" of the priesthood through their husbands.  But, women "invoking the priesthood" in the absence of their husbands is very much frowned upon.  A woman is essentially an "authority chattel" of her husband.  This is illustrated by my own experience when I petitioned the church to cancel my own temple sealing when I divorced.  I was told that the church would not do that because I would then "not be under the mantle of the priesthood" of my former husband and must remain sealed to him unless or until I remarried in the temple and was sealed to another man and therefore safely under his mantle.  Consequently, I am still sealed to him, although he is now also sealed to his new wife.  This brings me to my next point, the issue of polygamy.  The church pretends that they have nothing, nada, no, God forbid, to do with polygamy anymore.  Yet it is still "on their books" and they still practice what I call spiritual polygamy, and contrary to what the church may claim, the first wife does not have to consent to the husband being sealed to another woman.  Regardless of what the first wife says, the church will issue a recommend for the second sealing, as I learned by my own experiences.
For Mormons a woman, single or married, is an eternal second-class citizen in the Kingdom of God.  During the most sacred parts of the LDS temple ceremonies women are required to veil their faces, men never do.  When a man and a woman are married in an LDS temple "sealing for time and eternity" the woman makes a covenant with her husband, he makes a covenant with God directly.  Anybody care to explain the equality in that bit of doctrinal sophistry?  Also, the "sealing" is preceded by the bridal party attending a "temple ceremony" at the end of which the participants stand before a curtain (the veil) and and ritually converse with "God's represtentative" in order to "pass through and enter the presence of God".  Guess who is the chosen "God representative" for the bride and deems her worthy to enter the presence of God.  Yep, her soon-to-be husband.
Every significant gathering of LDS women must be "presided over" by a member of the priesthood.  And, I cannot even recall how many times I have been in a group of LDS women and when a man is present, regardless of whatever kind of jackass he may be, some idiot woman will intone "how grateful we are for the presence of the priesthood".  I think my favorite memory of a display of this attitude was at a gathering of some of my former ward members and neighbors in the home of a member of the bishopric.  Following the meeting, people leisurely made their way to the dining area for refreshments.  In front of the large doorway separating the rooms several women and I stopped to talk.  A large man, former military, member of the ward and one of those aforementioned jackasses, pushed his way through the women, saying loudly, "Make way for the priesthood."  I told him that of course we always made way for the priesthood, and we would also let him pass through.
Many self-styled "Mormon feminists" claim that they are helping the church to change into a better, more humane church.  Clearly they do not understand their own professed beliefs if they can think that.  The LDS church has always claimed that the head of the church is "The Prophet of God" and speaks to the church (and the world) the mind and will of God--that God, The Almighty, is the real head of the church and that "the Prophet" is his infallible representative.  I remember when, during the mid-1990's the "infallibility doctrine" was openly preached and firmly established, in case there were any doubt about it.  The gist of it is that the "leaders" of the church, ie. the prophet and quorum of the twelve, cannot err.  This in the face of the many contradictions in what various prophets have clearly stated to be the mind and will of God--contradicting both themselves and each other, depending on when "the truth" was spoken and by whom.  Blacks and the priesthood being a case in point.
So.  If, in fact, those "prophets" speak the mind and will of God, and only the mind and will of God in their infallibility, God is at the helm of the church and the church is "true" and "perfect".  ANYTHING else is tantamount to "steadying the ark".
The LDS Church requires absolute feality to its leadership, doctrines and scripture of all members "in good standing".  Proof of that "good standing" is a temple recommend which requires interviews with both a bishop and a member of the stake presidency (men) in which the person seeking to enter the temple must answer questions designed to establish that declaration of total loyalty.
A few years ago Boyd K. Packer, member of the quorum of the twelve, made a pronouncement on the "greatest threats to Mormonism today".  Included on that short list was "feminism".   Where does that leave Mormon feminism?
If the church is divinely guided and the super-humans who lead it are infallible, as "faithful Mormons" are required to profess, then it is not flawed.  Therefore, any other thoughts, beliefs, behaviors are blasphemy.
You can't have it both ways, sisters.  Either you are a feminist or you are a Mormon.  A thinking Mormon could accurately be called a Mormon apologist, but not a feminist.  And, an honest "feminist" would not be Mormon.  To consider yourself both a Mormon and a feminist you would somewhere along the line have to lie:  to yourself, to your bishop, and/or to God.