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Starting today, several members of the FLDS will appear before a Texas
Grand Jury to determine the validity of claims regarding child abuse
and underage marriage. Discord prevails as attorneys and clients
accuse each other and the judge of conflicting interests and
prejudice. Sixteen-year old Teresa Jeffs wants to fire her attorney,
who has petitioned the court to prevent her from seeing her father,
Warren Jeffs (now serving time in the Utah State prison) and FLDS
spokesman Willie Jessop, fearing that the FLDS men have put undue
pressure on the girl. Other women want to tell their story, of being
mislabeled as child brides into polygamous marriage by Child Protective
Services, and may or may not be heard. Generally, the FLDS seem to be
holding a united front against any who would try to disrupt their
community for any reason.Posted in:
Alarms went off as I read last Friday’s AP report: The principal of the
Gloucester (Massachusetts) High School had announced the results of an
investigation into the spike in teen pregnancy, seventeen this year as
compared to an average of four in other years. It seems that a group
of girls made a pact to get pregnant. None of the girls were over
sixteen, and in visits to the clinic, they seemed more upset to find
that they weren’t pregnant than to find that they were. One teen
listed the father of her unborn child as a homeless man. The
administrators described them as “girls who lack self-esteem and have a
lack of love in their life.” Posted in:
In the case of fundamentalists, if agencies would teach the FLDS people
to live in the mainstream by providing them with financial skills,
knowledge about housing, vocational counseling, etc., many FLDS members
would probably leave the YFZ Ranch and other FLDS communities on their
own. Many of these fundamentalists have lived with “mind-forged
manacles,” imprisoned by religious leaders who kept them from receiving
education and from making their own decisions. They have been denied
the American right to “pursuit of happiness” and like everyone, they
long for freedom. If such a life-skills investment could be made, the
bill would amount to far less than the $14 million spent ineffectively
trying to eradicate this stubborn and devout population. If the
fundamentalists knew that they were free and capable, they’d put their
energy into building their own lives instead of adamantly defending
themselves.Posted in:
People who know little about polygamy express surprise when they
discover that so many of the FLDS women are returning to the YFZ
Ranch. Even though it’s clear that these women could lose their
children if they again put them at risk of early marriage and other
types of coercion, many mothers have taken the risk and returned to
their homes. Why on earth, mainstream women ask, would a woman want to
go back to such a situation?Posted in:
Recent reports indicate that only about a third of the children and
their mothers have returned to the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado, Texas.
Others are living in homes around San Angelo. This raises some
interesting questions. Are many of the women keeping their children
away from the ranch? Are they unwilling to return to an environment
many describe as repressive to women and children? If they stay away,
how will they survive? Most FLDS women are poorly educated, with
skills confined to homemaking and child rearing, which limit their
ability to earn a living in a modern world. And most have no assets,
given that the FLDS women don’t usually make decisions.Posted in:
It seems that the tab on raiding the YFZ compound has run over $14
million dollars, billable to the state of Texas. Costs range from
about $4.5 million in legal fees (with the state paying for both sides
of the docket) another $2 million in state employee wages, and $2.5
million for housing and travel costs for the children. Politicians
have grandstanded, insisting that the FLDS foot the bill. Not much
chance of that happening when the whole thing was initiated by some
inflammatory talk and a bogus phone call.Posted in:
People often ask, tongue in cheek, why men who live polygamy don’t just
have mistresses or affairs. Sometimes they ask as if they already know
the answer—although I don’t know what answer they would give. John
Lewellyn, who writes and often speaks about polygamy (having lived it
briefly and unsuccessfully), maintains that it’s all about sex. But
clearly, life would be far less complicated for men if they didn’t sire
all those children and have to maintain all those households and keep
all those wives under wraps. (As my husband puts it, “One wife is more
than enough.”) Posted in:
Recently,
FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop objected to the “profiling” of polygamists
by law enforcement personnel. I understand concerns about profiling;
one reason I began writing was to erase the caricatures of polygamists
entertained by the general public and replace these stereotypes with
the experiences of real people who live a stanch and often harrowing
way of life. But I can’t fault law enforcement officers for
circulating a list of “people to watch” because polygamists have
revealed a capacity for intimidating and even violent behavior.Posted in:
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About the Authors
Dorothy Allred Solomon is the twentieth-eighth of forty-eight children born to polygamist leader Dr. Rulon C. Allred and his fourth wife. She is the author of several books about her upbringing, including In My Father's House (Franklin Watts, 1984) and Daughter of the Saints (W.W. Norton, 2004), the latter winning the WILLA award for memoir. The paperback version of her latest book, The Sisterhood: Inside the Lives of Mormon Women (Palgrave, 2007) will hit bookstore shelves in October.
I'm an editorial assistant for Marie Claire, have an MFA in writing, and live in New York City's smallest apartment with New York City's largest dog.
Abigail Pesta is a journalist who has lived and worked around the world, from London to Hong Kong. A highlight from her travels: bar-hopping in Shanghai with a minor-league Mafioso in his hearse-like limo. A lowlight: getting attacked in Cambodia by swarms of flying cockroaches, each one the size of your thumb. She writes short-short stories for her website, Fine Words Butter No Parsnips.
Eileen Conlan is an assistant editor at Marie Claire. She lives in New York City, and loves cooking, reading and reviewing new books, and shopping the city for the perfect deal. She also has an affinity for traveling, and anything vintage, making the Hell's Kitchen flea market her favorite weekend haunt. Eileen is looking forward to finding new ways to save her pennies while encouraging you to do the same.
I'm an editorial assistant in the features department, I'm addicted to bad reality television, New York Times crossword puzzles (Monday only!) and figuring out how to save a little money in the country's most expensive city. I'm blogging about that too
Lauren is the articles editor at Marie Claire. She loves to obsess over politics, play soccer, and watch movies, not necessarily in that order. She can't imagine any human interaction that wouldn't be improved with a line from The Simpsons or Rushmore. She saved Latin� what did you ever do?
As Associate editor of the Radar section, I obsess daily over movies, television, celebrities and music. A southern girl at heart and Brooklyn by address, my skill set also extends into witty asides, vintage shopping, planning themed parties, brunching, entertaining, applying eyeliner, dancing, concocting bourbon mint iced tea, gift giving, movie quoting, coffee drinking and Elvis spotting. I love conversations that begin with "remember the time...", am still paying off my student loans (and then some), and have fallen madly in love with my DVR.
Yael Kohen is an associate editor. She loves to argue, deliberate and overanalyze everything from politics to relationships (to the politics of relationships) to books, movies and television.
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