56 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 3, 2012
61. And again, as pertaining to the law of
the priesthood—if any man espouse a
virgin, and desire to espouse another, and
the first give her consent, and if he
espouse the second, and they are virgins,
and have vowed to no other man, then he
is justified he cannot commit adultery
for they are given unto him for he cannot
commit adultery with that that belongeth
unto him and to no one else.
62. And if he have ten virgins given him
by this law, he cannot commit adultery,
for they belongeth to him therefore he
is justified. (Doctrine and Covenants
132, pp. 61–62 see Kent, 2011, pp. 166,
187–188 n. 46)
(Some critics, however, deduce that the
[reputed] revelation was designed partly to force
compliance of Smith’s wife, Emma, with the
practice [Altman &Ginat, 1996, p. 27 see
Doctrine and Covenants 51 Muncy, 1973, p.
130]). In any case, Smith eventually had
dozens of “plural wives,” including one 14-year-
old (Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of the
Mormon Apostle Heber C. Kimball), one 15-
year-old, and two 16-year-olds, all when he was
between 37 and 38 years old (Ostling &Ostling,
1999, p. 61 Tanner &Tanner, 1996, pp. 4, 6).
Especially because of the reputed revelation’s
emphasis on virgins, polygamous Mormon men
felt downward age pressure regarding their new
brides—a competition to get the young women
as brides before someone else did. Indeed,
during the period between 1856 and 1857, so
many Mormon men were seeking to enter
“plural marriage” that one contemporary wrote,
“‘All are trying to get wives..., until there is
hardly a girl 14 years old in Utah, but what [sic]
is married, or just going to be’” (Wilford
Woodruff, in Van Wagoner, 1989, p. 92).2 By
1890, however, federal pressure against
Mormons led the group’s leader to renounce the
2 Worth mentioning however, is that, until 1992, 14-year-olds in
Utah could marry if they had parental consent. In 1992, Utah
lawmakers added the requirement that a juvenile-court judge had
to review applications for marriages involving 14- and 15-year-
olds. In 1996, “nearly 1,000 teen-agers 14 to 17 years of age were
married in Utah, including a 14-year-old girl who slipped a
wedding ring on a man of 37 and the marriage of a 15-year-old girl
to a groom older than 45” (Burton, 1997, p. 2 also see p. 1).
practice officially, but fundamentalists continued
(even at the expense of their membership in the
main Latter Day Saints organization [Altman &
Ginat, 1996:43–48]). Although the extensive
scholarship on Mormon-related polygamy
avoids using terms such as child abuse when
describing the actions of its founding figures,
recent events have brought to light the
propensity that some of their fundamentalist
heirs have toward sexually abusing children
under their care.
The sheer number and extent of these abuse and
molestation incidents raise questions about the
role that polygamist ideology and practice has
on facilitating if not generating these illegal
behaviours (see Kent, 2006, pp. 10–16 2011, p.
166). As noted, part of what occurs within
polygamy is that the competition among males
for additional wives drives them to seek younger
and younger females, knowing that their male
competitors feel similar pressures. In theory,
therefore, polygamy need not involve
pedophilia in practice, however, it does so with
great frequency.
Behaviours of numerous polygamous men in the
southwestern United States demonstrate the
intimate connection between pedophilia/
ephebophilia and polygamy. Critics (who often
were former members) of polygamy realized
that the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City
provided the perfect opportunity to expose the
practice (Woodward, 2002) and since then
media around the world, along with the
attorneys general offices in Utah and Arizona,
have scrutinized it. Governments, media, and
former members agreed that among the most
egregious aspects of polygamy was the
widespread practice of underage polygamous
marriages involving girls as young as 12 or 13,
with the promise that the state would prosecute
adults involved in such arrangements. By 2004,
social and legal scrutiny became so extensive
against the Hildale, Utah and Colorado City,
Arizona Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints
communities that their leader, Warren Jeffs,
initiated the construction of a new, isolated
compound in Eldorado, Texas. Called Yearning
for Zion Ranch, some 700 FLDS members
whom Jeffs favoured lived there when
authorities raided it in 2008. Despite all the
61. And again, as pertaining to the law of
the priesthood—if any man espouse a
virgin, and desire to espouse another, and
the first give her consent, and if he
espouse the second, and they are virgins,
and have vowed to no other man, then he
is justified he cannot commit adultery
for they are given unto him for he cannot
commit adultery with that that belongeth
unto him and to no one else.
62. And if he have ten virgins given him
by this law, he cannot commit adultery,
for they belongeth to him therefore he
is justified. (Doctrine and Covenants
132, pp. 61–62 see Kent, 2011, pp. 166,
187–188 n. 46)
(Some critics, however, deduce that the
[reputed] revelation was designed partly to force
compliance of Smith’s wife, Emma, with the
practice [Altman &Ginat, 1996, p. 27 see
Doctrine and Covenants 51 Muncy, 1973, p.
130]). In any case, Smith eventually had
dozens of “plural wives,” including one 14-year-
old (Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of the
Mormon Apostle Heber C. Kimball), one 15-
year-old, and two 16-year-olds, all when he was
between 37 and 38 years old (Ostling &Ostling,
1999, p. 61 Tanner &Tanner, 1996, pp. 4, 6).
Especially because of the reputed revelation’s
emphasis on virgins, polygamous Mormon men
felt downward age pressure regarding their new
brides—a competition to get the young women
as brides before someone else did. Indeed,
during the period between 1856 and 1857, so
many Mormon men were seeking to enter
“plural marriage” that one contemporary wrote,
“‘All are trying to get wives..., until there is
hardly a girl 14 years old in Utah, but what [sic]
is married, or just going to be’” (Wilford
Woodruff, in Van Wagoner, 1989, p. 92).2 By
1890, however, federal pressure against
Mormons led the group’s leader to renounce the
2 Worth mentioning however, is that, until 1992, 14-year-olds in
Utah could marry if they had parental consent. In 1992, Utah
lawmakers added the requirement that a juvenile-court judge had
to review applications for marriages involving 14- and 15-year-
olds. In 1996, “nearly 1,000 teen-agers 14 to 17 years of age were
married in Utah, including a 14-year-old girl who slipped a
wedding ring on a man of 37 and the marriage of a 15-year-old girl
to a groom older than 45” (Burton, 1997, p. 2 also see p. 1).
practice officially, but fundamentalists continued
(even at the expense of their membership in the
main Latter Day Saints organization [Altman &
Ginat, 1996:43–48]). Although the extensive
scholarship on Mormon-related polygamy
avoids using terms such as child abuse when
describing the actions of its founding figures,
recent events have brought to light the
propensity that some of their fundamentalist
heirs have toward sexually abusing children
under their care.
The sheer number and extent of these abuse and
molestation incidents raise questions about the
role that polygamist ideology and practice has
on facilitating if not generating these illegal
behaviours (see Kent, 2006, pp. 10–16 2011, p.
166). As noted, part of what occurs within
polygamy is that the competition among males
for additional wives drives them to seek younger
and younger females, knowing that their male
competitors feel similar pressures. In theory,
therefore, polygamy need not involve
pedophilia in practice, however, it does so with
great frequency.
Behaviours of numerous polygamous men in the
southwestern United States demonstrate the
intimate connection between pedophilia/
ephebophilia and polygamy. Critics (who often
were former members) of polygamy realized
that the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City
provided the perfect opportunity to expose the
practice (Woodward, 2002) and since then
media around the world, along with the
attorneys general offices in Utah and Arizona,
have scrutinized it. Governments, media, and
former members agreed that among the most
egregious aspects of polygamy was the
widespread practice of underage polygamous
marriages involving girls as young as 12 or 13,
with the promise that the state would prosecute
adults involved in such arrangements. By 2004,
social and legal scrutiny became so extensive
against the Hildale, Utah and Colorado City,
Arizona Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints
communities that their leader, Warren Jeffs,
initiated the construction of a new, isolated
compound in Eldorado, Texas. Called Yearning
for Zion Ranch, some 700 FLDS members
whom Jeffs favoured lived there when
authorities raided it in 2008. Despite all the
