Abstract
Following the 2008 Texas state raid on the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS), there was considerable public debate surrounding polygamy and the alleged victimization of women in these communities (Wright and Richardson 2011). While some of this debate clearly focused on underage marriage—a valid but separate issue2—there was still significant attention given to polygamy, plural marriage, or “The Principle,” practiced by Mormon fundamentalists in general3 and the FLDS in particular. According to a Gallup poll taken a few months after the Texas state raid, only 8 percent of Americans said that polygamy was “morally acceptable” (Gallup Polling Report 2011). This overwhelmingly negative sentiment toward polygamy is confounding given that 61 percent of people in the same poll said “sex between an unmarried man and woman” was “morally acceptable” and 55 percent said “having a baby outside of marriage” was “morally acceptable.” Is such pervasive condemnation of polygamy justified?
Stuart Wright wishes to acknowledge support from a Joseph H. Fichter grant sponsored by the Association for the Sociology of Religion for this chapter.
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© 2014 Henrik Bogdan and James R. Lewis
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Fagen, J.L., Wright, S.A. (2014). Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Empowerment in Mormon Fundamentalist Communities. In: Bogdan, H., Lewis, J.R. (eds) Sexuality and New Religious Movements. Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137386434_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137386434_2
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