7\ M 7\ IJ 0 T'r) 7\ (rn r t m t rr LT0' 0 T C (\ LL' LL\LL 'JF 1I1L LI1I.i..) 'J1 Suzanne M. Wilson for the degree of Master of the Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies in Women Studies, and Sociology presented on: May 18, 2004. Title: A Qualitative Study of Women in Modern Day Polygamous Households in the United States Approved: Redacted for Privacy Susan Shaw This study will show that polygamy is not a religious freedom protected under the U.S. Constitution, but a power system in which men use economic, political, social and physical force to control the behavior of others. This thesis will use a feminist perspective theory to provide a theoretical outline for investigating the association of power with the emotional and economic dependency of women within the framework of a polygamist social structure. This dependent power system is not limited to women but to their children as well. ©Copyright by Suzanne N. Wilson May 18, 2004 All Rights Reserved A Qualitative Study of Women In Modern Day Polygamous Households in the United States by Suzanne M. Wilson A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies Presented May 18, 2004 Commencement June 2005 Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies thesisof Suzanne M. Wilson presented on May 18, 2004 Redacted for Privacy Major Professor, representing Women Studies Redacted for Privacy Committee Member, representing Women Studies Redacted for Privacy senting Sociology Redacted for Privacy Director of the College of Liberal Arts Women Studies Program Redacted for Privacy Dëan of/sa'uate School I understand that my thesis will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my thesis to any reader upon request Redacted for Privacy Suzanne M. Wilson, Author TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER1 ..........................................1 Polygamy and Its Beginnings ......................2 CHAPTER 2 .........................................20 LiteratureReview ...............................20 CHAPTER 3 .........................................28 Methods .........................................28 CHAPTER 4 .........................................31 Findings........................................ 31 Neglect........................................ 34 First Wives and Favored Wives .................42 TheFarm .......................................56 Lies, Deceit, Coercion ........................57 Incest........................................ 64 Dynastic Unions ...............................66 ContemporaryPolygamy .........................70 Brainwashing ..................................78 CHAPTER 5 .........................................87 Conclusion ......................................87 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................90 DEFINITIONS .......................................98 Dedication My sincere appreciation toall the women who helped me reach my goals. Special thanksto Julie Ehrich forletting me work around myschool schedule, Susan Shawfor her guidance, Margaret Erickson for"comma" patrol, and my beloved dog Hershey for all thetimes I didn't have time to play because I had to work onthis paper and for dragging him all over the country whileI did my field research. POLYGAMY A}ID ABUSE: A QUALITATIVESTUDY OF WOMEN WITHIN MODERN DAY POLYGAMOUS HOUSEHOLDSIN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CHAPTER 2. Introduction Improving living conditions for womenand children requires that law enforcement, courts andoutsiders know how to intervene on behalf of women andchildren. This is especially true when they arepowerless to help themselves due to ignorance or a lack ofeducation, money or freedom. Because polygamous clans are sosecretive and little is known about growing up in them, theinvestigator examined the experiences of women who escaped frompolygamous communities and diaries of women who did not. Findings highlighted in this paper examine thesignificance of polygamy in fashioning American women'sexperiences of abuse and describe the way that polygamyand abuse can sometimes be interlocked experiences. Polygamy and Its Beginnings Unequal power within families often translatesinto violence that can include any member of thehousehold such as children, siblings, elderlyparents and women (Jewkes, 2002). Family power, or the lack of it for women, is a significant problem, deeplyembedded within the cultural history of the United States, acarryover from Englishlaw in which a married woman'slegal identity became thatof her husband and rendered hercivilly dead. She had no legal rights in regard to property oreven her own body. She could not own property, sue orbe sued in court. She was, in fact, hisproperty to do with as hewished. This is not In the same sense as aslave who was considered property; but it was not againstthe law for a husband to beat his wife as long as he didn't use astick thicker than his thumb (Cott, 1977). Women had fewer rights and were subordinate partners in marriage, ofwhich the husband was the legal political, economic andreligious "head." In the middle of the nineteenth century,these notions were replaced by a theoryof separate spheres for men and women. In these separate spheres, thehusband was the breadwinner and the one who entered the publicdomain, while the wife remained in the privatesphere of domestic labor (Cott, 1977). While the notion of separatespheres was an improvement overthe spousal unities doctrine because it gave women a role ofimportance of their own, the theory still preserved and promotedthe dominance of males over females in the United States(Flexner, 1975). Men were subject to the law of theland but women were 3 subject to men in theprivacy of the home. It hasbeen argued that afterindustrialization, women hadfewer rights and freedoms becausethey no longer had a roleof importance of their own (Cott,1977). They lost many ofthe roles they used to performwithin the family andcommunity as the market took overmost of theirproductive labor and their roles became morenarrowly prescribed asmothers and housewives. However, the point remainsthat women continued to be legallysubordinate to men. Laws have changed so that women areno longer legally subordinate to men. However, within polygamy, womenand children are still consideredsubordinate to men and this promotes dominance of males overfemales as described by Victoria Prunty in a newspaperarticle (Deseret New, 1998), in which she claims polygamyis a heavily patriarchal society in which a woman existsonly to serve: It's not a co-equal relationship. The husband not only has the complete say-soin the home, but he also has other women he can goto to support his decisions. And all the people underhim are looking at him as their lord, ortheir king. This is a cult. It's not about any kind ofconsensual sex or preferencebetween adults. And then the children grow up believing this ismandatory in order for them to get to heaven(Deseret News, 1998) When I began this project I did sowith much trepidation. I did not have a greatknowledge of polygamy. 4 My fear of getting into asubject I could not fathom intellectually daunted me throughoutthis project. The practices protected under theumbrella of religion can be difficult for an outsider tounderstand. The topic of polygamy is no exception. I was raised in a Christian culture and taught that a husbandhas one wife and a wife has one husband. I could not understand how a womancould share her husband with another woman, orraise her children to do so and the thoughtof sharing a husband withseveral women was beyond myunderstanding. I wanted to know howand why this was an accepted practicewithin fundamentalist Mormon sects in the United Statesof America. Even though the practice isillegal under the laws of the United States, the practice ofpolygamy continues within the borders of this country andpolygamists have little fear of being prosecuted for thecrime. The questions then become those of whythis is so and what are the dynamics that surround this apractice? I understood the concept of freedom of religionunder which polygamy is practiced, but then I read an articlein an Oregon newspaper about a 16year-old girl with obvious signs of a beating. She had escaped from an isolatedbuffalo and ostrich ranch located near the Idahoborder where authorities say a Utah polygamist secthas an established ill re-education camp for non-compliantwomen and children. She found her way to a payphone where she called 911. She had run away because she hadbeen forced to marry withher father's older brother as his15th wife (Kenworthy, 1998). The article brought up morequestions for me. Where was the girl'sright to not only freedom ofreligion but to any freedom at all?Did this girl fall into atime warp where children and women stillhad no voice in their own lives, no property rights, no sayin whom they marry, no defense against being forced into asexual relationship against their will? In women'shistory, women's voices have been silenced, not by the womenthemselves but by the political narratives surrounding women'sexperiences. Who was going to tell theworld about this girl's experience? Certainly not the men who had control overher life! That history is written from theperspective of those who hold power is problematic for womenbecause history has been written by men's perspectiveand excluded women. The invisibility of women to historians was nooversight. When history is conceived as a narrative ofpublic