Headline: Horror in the Commune

British Columbia's polygamy trial got the whole front page of the newspaper again yesterday and a full page of coverage inside.

Excerpts from newspaper article re witness testimony:

"Teresa Wall, 30, who grew up in a polygamous community in Utah, spoke of being sent away from her family at the age of 13 to the community of Bountiful in B.C.

"Winston Blackmore, a religious leader in the community, tried to get her to marry him when she was 17, but she refused. “I said, ‘You’ll have to kill me. I’d rather die.’” [Amen and amen to that].

“I was not legally in Canada. I had no papers and I had no money. I thought I had no other choice than to get married.”

Another witness: "[Kathleen Mackert] had nightmares as she imagined she was being strapped into a “breeding stall” to be impregnated against her will."

A third witness: "...[I] suffered a lot of physical, emotional, sexual and mental abuse".

A common experience described by all the former plural wives is sexual abuse suffered from early childhood (commonly starting at age 3), often by their fathers. Many were 'married' to step- and half-brothers. As Debbie Palmer, ex-plural wife, has said "there are no sexual boundaries" in the polygamy practiced by Mormon Fundamentalists.

Abuse of many types would appear to be systemic within these fundamentalist communes. I'm all for any court ruling that would put a stop to that (or at least get more outside oversight in there).

Reference - The Province newspaper:

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Sexual+abuse+polygamist+community+court+hears+graphic+content/3948562/story.html

O M G !!!!!!!!! How can people be that depraved? What is mentally wrong with the leaders?

I wouldn't be surprised if stories like this would've come out of Utah during the 1850-1869 era as well...

The young boys don't have healthy role models regarding gender roles and how to treat females (understatement). As Debbie Palmer has explained to me, every female is viewed from an early age as a potential 'wife' and with all the intermarriage and the leaders marrying multiple sisters and then even children of sisters, or mother/daughter combos, the boys do not learn about normal relationships between closely related males and females (ie: taboo against incest) such that they view even their own full-blooded sisters as sexual objects.

Also, the leaders would seem to engage in physical and sexual abuse (such as fathers forcing their daughters into oral sex from pre-K ages on) as do many of their 'wives', unfortunately. (Debbie has described in her book how she suffered relentless physical abuse from stepmothers, in addition to mental and emotional abuse from many sources).

Before reading her book I did not realize how widespread the abuse is or how early it started in a child's life. I wondered if it was the lifestyle or the religious beliefs or the isolation or a combination of those and other factors that led to this systemic abuse of so many of the women and children. I was dumbstruck to realize from Debbie's descriptions of the origins of these communes, such as Bountiful, that the damn places are started and maintained by abusers and pedophiles. That type of behaviour is inherent in the community, seemingly bred in or at least modelled by the very founders of these places. How is it possible that every single founder, I asked myself, was a pedophile? I haven't worked it all out yet but that is my abiding impression from everything I have heard and read and learned about Bountiful in particular.

How could it happen? How could it go on for so long? How could so many be so meek for so long?

Carolyn Jessop has stated that the "mother bear" is absent from many of the women who live within the polygamous compounds. For many women, though, the reason they find a way to get out is that they feel the need to protect their children from the abuse, the early marriages, the lifelong trauma of it all.

Unfortunately, getting out is only the first step. As a Utah psychologist has testified, many of the women suffer post traumatic stress disorder, just for starters.

It is a nightmare even just hearing and reading about it.

http://www.timescolonist.com/life/Many+women+fleeing+polygamist+unions+suffered+abuse+guilt+Psychologist/3920087/story.html

Hopefully, these brave women will help educate those who need to provide oversight.

It seems clear as day to me, but I worry that others will see it differently.

Teresa's story:

http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/latest/polygamist-cult-wants-kids-2

I cannot comprehend what this sexual abuse of 3 and 4 yr olds is about. In the world of sickness that is incest, rape, and other appalling abuses, objectifying and sexualizing toddlers is another level of sickness and depravity altogether.

One father in a compound of a few hundred people being a pedophile or incestuous or abusive would be the unfortunate 'norm', you would think. But dozens? That is almost incomprehensible.

Another major factor that intensifies the horror and the shame and the guilt of it all is that everybody knows, those on the inside, some on the outside. Everybody knows that children are being physically abused, at least, and yet it goes on and on and on for generations?

It's gut-wrenching.

This 'reference trial' currently being held in Vancouver is focused only on the question of whether the Canadian law against polygamy is constitutional. The judge's findings must then be referred to the federal govt which then has to decide either to uphold or strike down the law - iow, it will proceed at a glacial pace.

Meanwhile, I intensely hope that the longstanding continued allegations of abuse are thoroughly investigated and prosecuted if possible.

Perhaps the testimony of these brave women witnesses will impell and encourage others to come forward. The children must be protected. The women who want to get out must be helped. Abusers must be stopped. They must be punished.

Getting out is difficult for many reasons with which we are all familiar. Dealing with such an experience is tough and perhaps a life-long endeavour. The women cry as they watch their own videotaped testimony. So do many of those who watch with them.

We can become dulled to the enormity of it, the pain of it, the trauma of it, the injustice of it, because of our knowledge of Mormon doctrines, history and practices and our own involvement and experiences with Mormonism, as well as our repeated exposure to those of others that we read about here at RfM. We hear so many similar accounts of trauma related to life in Mormonism and we regularly discuss polygamy, JS style and its modern day version. But to outsiders, who may never have heard of such things, it is beyond strange, beyond unacceptable, mind-boggling. It needs to be addressed and somehow fixed or at least stopped.

To outsiders hearing about this for the first time (maybe many Mormons among them, and certainly Mormon missionaries) it is jaw-dropping, hair-raising, eyeball-bulging stuff. I well remember being in the theatre for Debbie Palmer's documentary film about leaving Bountiful (the B.C. FLDS commune). The theatre was full. There was, though, absolute silence as life inside the compound was revealed, and a prolonged silence at the end as the enormity and the poignancy of Debbie's story were felt.

As nevermos often say around here, you do know that [whatever facet of Mormonism or other fundy-type belief is being discussed] is NOT NORMAL don't you? Many who have been on the inside of some of these fundamentalist-type groups don't know, no. But here's hoping they learn and that the outsiders looking in now (by means of this trial, for one) will readily realize and acknowledge that the situation is dire and help is needed, for those who desire it, or those who need it (like the children, whether they realize it or not at this point).

I don't care necessarily about the outcome at the legislation level and I definitely don't care about consenting adults and their choices. I do care, very much, about people being trapped, especially kids, without a way out for themselves if they want it. I hope the trial brings the spotlight to life inside Bountiful and other similar groups and that at last some major changes are implemented.

The issues and realities inside the FLDS are complex, to be sure. But surely we as a society can change whatever needs changing to ensure that every child's right to grow up free of abuse is met.

At the very least, men who prey on toddlers need to be rooted out and dealt with. They are disgusting, sickening people who strut around calling themselves men of God while inflicting their unholy behaviour on their unfortunate sitting-duck victims. They prey on women and children (including male children) and keep them repressed, without choices, and isolated from a world outside where people do care about them and what is happening to them, despite the leaders' lies to the contrary.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2010 05:18PM by Nightingale.

...started this sick system, that now survives among the offshoot fundamentalists, and the Mormon church needs to take a leadership role in not tolerating it any further. Church leaders need to advocate for stringent laws protecting minors in such situations, and *ensure that those laws are enforced*.

It's not enough to say that polygamy is in their past and they excommunicate members who practice polygamy. The church needs to clean up its own messes.

And that's not going to happen.

The morg is in an indefensible position otherwise, and maybe that is why they issue statements and leave it at that.