We have neighbors who are totally TBM. One day I got into a conversation with the wife (a convert) who told me how proud she was to now be a "Molly Mormon" considering her former wild background.

I told her that being known as a Molly Mormon is a derogatory term for being a Stepford Wife. She was initially offended, but then thanked me for straightening her out.

Was I wrong about the term?

I've never known it to be anything but derogatory, either, but who knows? Perhaps the LDS Stepford Wives have embraced their identity and the term along with it.

No, you weren't wrong.
It's generally derogatory even among mormons.
It always is among non-mormons.

You are correct and its a sad thing to witness.

Thank you for your input. I appreciate it.

I re-watched the original Stepford Wives recently (on Youtube) and man does that show hit the mark! When I went to the Y (having been raised in a low Mormon population state) I was reminded of the Stepford wives everywhere I went!

I recommended it to my younger TBM sis recently and then while watching it myself I thought, hmm, she may not like this as much as me, might hit too close to home for her! Not sure if she did watch it. Didn't follow up with her on it.. but kind of hope she did, maybe it will help her see the light.

I was the only one in my immediate family to leave the cult (and I did while at BYU).. I think in part because I read a lot of Orwell before I went there (to the Y) and because of having watched films like the Stepford Wives. Made it easy to draw comparisons between those works and life in Provo, which helped me to question things!