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A Teenager's Tears : When Parents Convert to Polygamy
A Teenager's Tears When Parents Convert to Polygamy Author:John R. Llewellyn Media attention has focused on the January 2001 tragic death of a polygamist toddler, when medical attention allegedly was not sought until too late. And that occurred on the heels of the prosecution of Utah polygamist Tom Green, alleging Rape of a Child and bigamy. What is the truth of Utah polygamy? Should it be legalized? Do women and childre... more »n risk death because they are afraid of seeking urgent medical care? Are child brides marketed to old men? Are there good and bad polygamists? Author John Llewellyn, both a former law enforcement investigator of sex crimes and a former polygamist, tells all sides of the story. Why? Because a growing number of people enter polygamy each year. So travel that fascinating world through a modern day family that leaves traditional Mormonism and enters polygamy, the father excited, the mother and teenagers deeply troubled. Meet the adult and teenage cliques of the governing "elite" families, the "second-class" families, the "obedient" women who believe they must be subservient in every way, and finally the strong-willed women who use their intrinsic powers to develop a life of freedom and choice within the group. Meet the men and their different uses of religious power over the women whose lives they control—and those they only think they control. In the end will these teenagers and their mother give up the "good life" they have created—and their very freedom. To understand contemporary polygamy, one needs to see into the minds of these women and their deep desire to obey what they believe is God’s commandment. To understand the men in polygamy, one needs to study their need of power, dominance, and the male sex drive. To understand the polygamous sects, one must study their leadership, a theocracy more political than religious. Read about the new law protecting children from being pressured into marriage, passed by the Utah legislature in 2001.« less