In the early 1990s, a rather bizarre Mormon missionary-training video series was produced called Manners for Missionaries.
Dating from around 1994, the series was designed to teach LDS missionaries something that apparently went far beyond gospel teaching: how to present themselves, how to dress, how to sit, how to shake hands, how to eat, how to interact with other people, and essentially how to project the “right” image.
And here’s the interesting part: the series wasn’t officially produced by the LDS Church or Brigham Young University. However, its creators were faculty and instructors associated with BYU and the Provo Missionary Training Center, and the videos were reportedly shown in missions around the world.
The series consists of multiple installments, including The Power of Credibility, Building Credibility, and the particularly memorable Visual Poise for Sisters. That installment is devoted specifically to how female missionaries should carry themselves—including how they pick things up, enter and exit vehicles, and physically present themselves.
And this is where things get especially interesting from a modern perspective.
Some of the material is simply dated 1990s etiquette. But some of it gets into very gender-specific ideas about how women should move, look, behave, and present themselves—making portions of the series come across as remarkably sexist by today’s standards.
So, rather than watching these as isolated clips scattered around the internet, I’ve collected the surviving installments and assembled them into one complete compilation.
It’s a fascinating time capsule of missionary culture in the 1990s, and an extraordinary look at just how much emphasis was placed on beauty, appearance, social behavior, credibility, and gender roles.
Please enjoy watching Manners for Missionaries!
#Mormonism #ExMormon #LDS #MormonMissionaries #MannersForMissionaries #LDSHistory #MormonHistory #MissionaryTraining #ExMormonContent
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