Posted by:
behindcurtain
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Date: July 20, 2012 05:30PM
The convential wisdom in Mormondom is that Joseph Smith was extremely handsome. I disagree on that. The Church paints pictures that make him a lot more handsome than he probably was. I have seen a picture drawn of him back in the day that was not that flattering. It emphasised his prominent nose.
I read that he was "moderately handsome", which probably comes closer to the truth. On the plus side: his blue eyes, his luxurious hair that swept back very becomingly, moderately attractive facial features, and a powerful physique. On the minus side: his prominent nose, which wasn't that bad but was not that good either (depending on the eye of the beholder), and his forehead which tilted backward, which is not really bad but not that good either.
How seductive was Joseph? I read that he only came up with plural marriage when he found out women would not sleep with him unless they were married to him. Top notch seducers know how to get married women into bed with them. Not every woman, but enough women to keep themselves occupied. If Joseph were really a first class seducer, he would not have had to bother with plural marriage. By the way, handsome men are not necessarily good seducers; some of the best seducers have not been all that attractive.
Joseph probably could not reach women on an emotional level. He was too narcissistic, self-absorbed, crazy, etc. to emotionally connect with women. Women who like to be seduced want a man who can connect with them emotionally. Joseph's greatest talent was being a deceiver, and a deceiver of men especially.
When Joseph discovered he was not "good enough" to seduce women, while many other prominent men were, he probably became jealous of seductive men, and to prove he was just as good as they were, he introduced polygamy.
Mormons as a whole are not great seducers. Joseph was a man's man, not a lady's man. He attracted church leaders similar to himself. Polygamy thrived because so many other church leaders were like him: power hungry, but not that sensitive to the needs of the fair sex.
Although they keep quiet about it, other religions probably have a higher percentage of leaders who are great seducers. They understand women. They are more honest with their feelings. Even people in general, regardless of religion, probably harbor more top quality seducers than Mormonism does. There are plenty of myths regarding famous seducers that the average person is more familiar with than Mormons are.
Mormonism's weird attitude towards sexuality--remain virtually sexless until marriage, marry in the temple, marry because you are commanded to, not because you want to, wear garments in bed, sexual sin is next to murder, separate yourself from the opposite sex for two years on a mission, etc., make it very hard to develop a normal sexuality, and the ability to seduce can only develop from a normal sexuality. Many women enjoy being seduced, but very few women enjoy being forced into a polygamous marriage.