livius drusus

For the first time in 100 years, a woman is being charged in a polygmany case for abetting polygamy and illegal sex. She allegedly helped coerce her 16 year old sister into marrying her husband (see AP article <a href="http://www.salon.com/mwt/wire/2002/10/14/utah/index.html" target="_blank">here</a>, Salt Lake Trib article <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/10092002/utah/5462.htm" target="_blank">here</a>). What stands out to me in all this grotesqueness is the complicity of not just the girl's older sister, but of her parents, church leader and according to them, Jebus as well. From the AP article:

The husband is being charged with polygamy and 3 counts of unlawful sex. One for each kid, I suppose. Now the girl is 20 and has 3 kids by this sick fuck who married her in some bullshit "spiritual" ceremony when he was 32. Oh, and he's a cop.

Of course, he's crying religious persecution. It makes me want to puke.

MadMordigan

The guy should plead mental incompetance. After having one wife, no one in their right mind would want another.

brighid

Polygamy isn’t about marriage it’s about having sex with underage females and making babies. These men get to have sex with as many “wives” as they can financially support and because these women have been indoctrinated into accepting this exploitive role that doesn’t address their needs there isn’t so much bitching and moaning about who he screwed last night. So, when he sees some fine, nubial girl he wants to screw he just marries her. He can divorce her later on, or simply move onto another naïve, indoctrinated girl. That’s why their subsequent wives aren’t their own age, or older.

Brighid

MadMordigan

So, when he sees some fine, nubial girl he wants to screw he just marries her. He can divorce her later on, or simply move onto another naïve, indoctrinated girl.

Sounds like highschool, without all the marriage and divorce bullshit.

livius drusus

It is customary in polygamy cases to treat the women exclusively as victims of exploitation (see AP article in op), however, this case reveals that reality, as always, is far more nuanced than that. These women are not automata. If the 20 year old rape victim could find her way out of this so-called marriage (after 3 kids no less), how can the 36 year old sister justify not just her inaction, but her complicity in the abuse? I am glad they are prosecuting her, frankly. These men are not browsing the local Hustler store buying blow-up dolls. The women have some agency too.

BigJim

The reason for the bullshit spiritual ceremony is that plural marriage is actually illegal. It's typical for these guys to be legally married to their first wife, then have a non-sanctioned ceremony when the later wives are added to the family.

Captain Pedantic

I may be mistaken, but don't "respectable" Mormons tend to want to distance themselves from polygamous marriages? I'm sure I read that several of the main portions of the Mormon church tend to very much frown on that kind of thing.

Which rather weakens this chap's plea of "religious discrimination", I feel.

livius drusus

These particular felons are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jebus Christ and Latter Day Saints. They apparently split from the main church right about the time when Utah joined the union and made polygamy illegal. Naturally, they feel like they are the real Mormons and that the mainstream LDS church persecutes them in exchange for looking a little less like the freaks they are to the rest of the world.

I believe this is called the No True Cocksman fallacy.

[ October 16, 2002: Message edited by: livius drusus ]</p>

babelfish

Financially support? From what I understand, it's often the women who work to finance their own households. You don't have to be rich anymore to afford a harem!

Veil of Fire

Abuse is bad no matter what family structure it occurs in.

As to why polygamy in and of itself is bad, I'll never understand.