While most of the attention on the recent raid of the sect in Texas of the polygamous compound has been on the children and the young girls who are pregnant, little has been said of the teenage boys. The above link takes you to a story that explains what happens to the boys that are born in the familes within many of the sects of the Mormon Church that practice polygamy. Often they are shunned by the larger group and put out of the sect. They are left on the streets of Salt Lake City and sometimes Las Vegas to fend for themselves. The reasoning for this is that the older men who have multiple wives don't want the competition from these boys as they grow older, so they are just removed.
In a world where having sons is at a premiun in many cultures I found this twist very odd, but given their thinking I understood what they are trying to do, but certainly not approving of it. Had anyone else thought about the lack of young men in the stories about this sect or in any other Mormon sects. What does society do with these young boys (often called "Lost Boys") who have no idea how the real world works and how to cope. Do you think that they are just as much victims as the many girls that are forced to marry the older men within the sect and have their children. How does a mother who proclaims to love and care for her children allow either of these things to happen??? Do you think that they view the removing of the boys differently because we look at men and women differently, in our society and also their little group of our society???
6 comments:
No wonder these men think it is okay to treat women in this fashion...some of the men learn their ideals of women from the streets of Las Vegas! It is an interesting twist, I did know about the boys being cast out of the compound at pretty early ages, but I had not thought of the reasoning behind it. I do not think they love and care for their children, at least not enough because they do allow these types of things to happen. There is a reason some of the members try to escape the prison/cult that is polygamy. Oh for sure they look at men and women differently. In polygamy, the men pretty much hold all of the power.
I think they do view the issue between the teenage boys and girls differently because of how the men and women are viewed in their society. I feel that they need to start worrying about the boys as much as they worry about the girls, if not at times more. What they are doing in their society is saying that the men need to have several women with them, even if they are young girls and forced into the relationship. This does not teach the boys to respect women but rather view them as property which is a terrible result.
I was watching a show this last week about women in polygamous groups and it was really interesting to me how the mother of this one girl did not step in when her husband decided he wanted her daughter to be one of his wives. The show only focused on the girls and women but never mentioned anything about their sons and what happens to them. I agree that the message sent to the young boys is that women and girls are just property that they must obtain. It is depressing to know that this the only view of women and girls that many young men in these cultures see.
this is very interesting, I have been hearing about this story a lot, but I guess I never realized they never mention the boys. I think that the treatment of these boys is just as awful as what is happening to the girls. Although, the girls seem to suffer more physical abuse in these compounds, anytime a child is not shown proper love and attention I think it is abuse. Parents are supposed to love and guide their children and in this case I think the parents are extremely selfish and are obviously not fit to be parents.
Wow, I never knew that's what they did to the teenage boys. Yeah, they never talk about the boys. Also, when Larry King was interviewing these women earlier, they would not talk about their husbands when asked. So, they don't really talk about the husbands either; it's all about the wives. Why do the husbands get somwehat overlooked when they are the ones that are guilty of the crime!?!?!
Honestly I hadn't even thought of the lack of boys in this situation. But I almost feel that they are more of vicitims in this caase. THey are pretty much just thrown into the world to fend for themselves. This entire story just makes me SICK. I wonder how the men justified to the women that it was the right thing to do to just "get rid of" their sons.
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