The GAs spoke out against the practice, and even threatened ex-communication. My question is, was this for real, or was it just another hoax that the GAs fell for? The later sounds more likely, then anyone thinking it would be OK to go through all the effort of a fake marriage for a couple nights of sex.

My YW President told me about it in 1998-1999 time frame.

I heard about it at BYU in the 90s. It was called "Family Home Evening"

Maybe they began with good intentions but got the quickie divorce because the sex was so disastrous?

Either way, it points to the fact that TSCC's legacy of sexual suppression creates horrible consequences!

Interesting that some sects of Islam allow (tolerate?) this practice.
I believe it's called Mutah Marriage
IIRC, it's the Wahabbi Muslims from Saudi, that particularly embrace this particular form of religiously sanctioned prostitution.

Haha! Perhaps Mormons could call the practice "Utah marraige"

Just drop the m

Wahabbis are Sunni.

Yes, you're correct, my apologies.

however, I recall the story that first brought Mutah marriage to my attention was particularly focused on Saudi's - who tend to be mostly Wahabbi.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2012 12:51PM by EssexExMo.

This has got to be folklore instead of reality. I remember hearing a version of this story, too. In the version I heard, it was two couples who went to Vegas and when they got back they were all excommunicated.

This ranks up there with the mission calls to China where the call tells you to wait by the phone at a certain time and President (Hinckley) in my case would call you to confirm your mission to China. The mission in the story I heard was a three year mission.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2012 10:41AM by jameswilmons.

How do I know this? Because in 1991 I was dating a Provo attorney who TOLD kids to do this--only one instance that I know of. And it wasn't because he wanted the annulment business, in fact he did it for free. It was to try to take some of the pressure off kids who he knew were totally getting married to have sex. I don't know if he did it because he'd heard about it from someone else, and I never understood how a weekend or a little longer of sex was going to alleviate the problem. And I really don't know what the ramifications of it were down the road. I just know he did it and we had a discussion about it.

But it did cross my mind that BYU students might do that and have it annulled the next morning.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2012 10:52AM by Itzpapalotl.

Divorce isn't that quick and easy in any state. Marriage, yes. But divorce? No. It costs money (court filing fees), filing lots of papers, waiting, etc.

Much easier to have sex and then "repent."

Agreed.

Given the premarital sex rates at byu (which were > 0 at the time...and probably still are), I doubt all those people were going to Vegas.

Most people just do it the old fashioned way--ignore the rules.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2012 11:43AM by archytas.

My cousin attended a student ward at BYU during the mid to late nineties. He told me that it happened regularly in his ward. He never heard about it until they started to excommunicate kids for it. He joked that he felt hurt that he had to hear about it after the fact and no one invited him...

They were also running out to Elko and Wendover to do it too.

I'm pretty sure I first heard that story in the mid to late 1980s. I think it's a myth. I also wonder about the story about prostitution at BYU with the tennis rackets crossed in the window. I heard that one about the same time.

Makurosu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm pretty sure I first heard that story in the
> mid to late 1980s. I think it's a myth. I also
> wonder about the story about prostitution at BYU
> with the tennis rackets crossed in the window. I
> heard that one about the same time.


A missionary who served up here talked about the tennis racket thing. He said he witnessed the tennis rackets when he attended there, so you never know, I guess.

Also, my uncle said he lived across the street from where it happened. I still don't believe it. The reason why is because this is one of those stories that everyone knows but there isn't any source information for it that I've ever seen, although I admit I haven't actively searched for it. It sounds like a Mormon urban legend. I'm sure there have been many cases of prostitution at BYU, but why is this story so widespread with no source? Anytime I hear a story like that I just don't believe it.

I was at BYU when this was going on. They read a letter in sacrament meeting one Sunday denouncing the practice. The gist of the letter was that while technically the practice was avoiding fornication, the church authorities considered it fornication anyway.

Haha! And technically Joseph Smith WAS comitting adultery, but they don't consider adultery anyway.

It actually happened in my BYU stake. Can't remember the year or the name of the stake.

In one of my BYU single wards, the bishop, an elderly and genteel man, stood up in church one Sunday. He was truly angry. He said he was sick and tired of warm members coming to him and asking if oral sex was okay because it really wasn't intercourse, right?!

I was just stunned that anyone would think that was within the bounds of chastity.

I think many Mormons try to find a way to "live the letter of the law" so they can get away with more stuff and still appear TBM. IT's a system that really does corrupt one's ethics..

When there's so many damn rules, the flock will look for ways to bend them. It really does fuck up people's ethical compass.

My brother had a roommate who somehow came to the conclusion that it was ok for him to lay in bed naked with women as long as he didn't touch their breasts. Another one of those "obeying the letter of the law" things.

Instead of seeing how far they could go without actually sinning, maybe everyone should have just gone to another university which would have treated them like responsible adults.

I had a returned Mormon missionary roommate who did that from a different school in Utah. He went to Vegas and got married on a friday, then got divorced the next monday just to have sex "legally."

It's not a myth.

The only myths I've heard about BYU is that anal sex doesn't count as intercourse, so they're still honoring the "no sex before marriage" law.

It is not a 'divorce' It is called an annulment.

You can get married quickly in Nevada and annulled within six months. It costs about the same as a divorce; $750 (with no contest). The couple I heard about went to Wendover, had their 'honeymoon', annulled it on the way out of town on Monday and went back to Utah. Then six months later they got married.

They had wanted to get married sooner, but their TBM FAMILIES wanted the wedding to be delayed until 'so and so could be there', and 'so and so could be back from their mission' and so on. Their wedding had been turned into a family reunion and to avoid trouble they did their thing, then let the family do theirs.

I was scandalized when I heard it at the time, being a rabid TBM, but now it makes perfect sense. That couple did a rational thing under the circumstances. They met their needs and kept the family peace. God ever help them if they really wanted to leave the TSCC later in life!!!

The couple wanted to be married, but had to delay. Their marriage was not really a license to have sex, but to blow off steam as it were.

Now for those who just did it to have a 'guilt free' weekend? They need to get on with their life and leave the church out of it! Sex is too expensive to do it with the quickie marriage/annulment in Nevada!

That is some seriously expensive sex. If only these poor kids had the wherewithal to just have sex instead of spending copious amounts of money just to avoid guilt.

BYU, obviously, is a very legalistic environment. I would guess many people who did this chose to "get married" to raise the defense that their sexual relations took place during marriage and, therefore, did not violate the Honor Code nor subject them to scholastic or ecclesiastical sanctions. Which is why bishops began to condemn the practice over the pulpit.

It wasn't just BYU students and mormons who did it.

In the mid 1960's and again during the early 1970's when I was at BYU it was called a 'Wendover Wedding Weekend'.

The couple would zip over the border to Wendover, get hitched and then have sex all they wanted back at BYU. Still lived apart and if they were caught, they were 'legally married'.

Would file for either an annulment or a divorce with a cheap lawyer after a bit and then go find another partner to hitch up with.

Sleazy and dishonest, but a lot like the LDS Corporation in how it follows the letter of the law to get away with screwing.

This is similar to a phenomenon that I heard of recently called 'soaking.' The basic idea is that the guy puts his penis in the girl's vagina, but doesn't move it after that. He just leaves it in without reaching orgasm.

Somehow guys are able to convince girls that this somehow doesn't constitute sex.

Letter of the law. Even though this clearly breaks the letter of the law.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=let+it+soak

In the singles program in the CA and AZ and NV areas that participate in big confrences and activities there is a bunch of unwritten rules about orgasm and making out. One of them is that if both people making out want to masturbate while kissing/caressing it is not a sin because the other person didn't touch the sex organs.

So they can be totally naked in bed and reach orgasm and not sin (except for self stimulation) because they didn't touch the penis or gina of the other person. So stupid.

When I was at BYU and realized we never got a spring break from Winter Semester, the explanation I was given was that they took Spring Break away because of this Las Vegas wedding practice was rampant during spring break week.

all i've got is second hand info, that several individuals in my singles ward and others in the stake had done it..

But, once when i was working late, a girl & guy (obvious couple) and another guy (obviously single) came into my work. the single guy said they were heading to Vegas to get "married" (while insinuated getting lucky) & if i wanted to "marry" him, he'd wait for me to get off work to go..

So what is the difference between this, and a spiritual marriage, as practiced by Joseph Smith?

My sister did that back in the early sixties and forgot to get the divorce. Still married after all these years.