God's Brothel: The Extortion of Sex for Salvation in Contemporary Mormon and Christian Fundamentalist Polygamy and the Stories of 18 Women Who Escaped Reviews

• I thought my eyes were open

  
  By A1ZF9SOCL3R4YV on 2004-09-20
  to what horrors do go on in polygamous communities. I've read a lot about it and living in Utah and having been raised in the mormon community, I figured I had a good feel for what might go on behind the walls of these compounds and homes. The stories in this book describe pretty much every perversion and abuse I might have guessed could occur in such an environment. All it takes is an understanding of patriarchal cult/religion and power combined with human nature to figure that what these women describe makes sense.
  
  I learned a little bit more about the state of Utah and how far it is from bringing justice and support where it is most needed. With the prevailing mainstream mormon influence within the power structures of this state, it seems they are still in the business of protecting their own polygamous doctrine and history first and foremost.
  
  So far, the most revealing book I've read on polygamy. Others that I've read have left me feeling that there was much untold.
  
  
  

• Hell on Earth

  
  By A33UG9M0YIT94 on 2004-11-23
  Andrea Moore Emmett opens our eyes to a horror that most of us assumed did not exist in modern-day America. How wrong we were. Through heart-wrenching tales told by the women who lived them we learn of a dark, dismal world in which girls are nothing more then human cattle. This is a must read for any one who doubts the existence of polygamy in the Land of the Free. This is an especially important read in light of the current threats to all women's rights.
  
  

• An essential but biased sample - Is polygamy the problem or

  
  By A2A2HL3CEDACRW on 2004-10-12
  These 18 first person accounts of life in modern Mormon polygamy make for both a riveting and horrifying read of religious and sexual abuse. Moore-Emmit's anthology is essential reading for those wanting an insider's view of the secret religious and sexual abuses still perpetrated by Mormons upon the family in this century the name of obedience to Gods law. The women who speak out have done so at considerable personal risk. They don't hesitate to name names and give lurid details (the Mormon theology of "blood atonement" justifies murder and some former cult leaders have made threats). Moore-Emmit's interviews are a powerful contribution to the sociocultural literature of polygyny. For this reason alone you should read the book.
  
  However, be advised that the author and contributors have a political agenda. These are a group of women who have suffered horrific abuse as survivors of religious cultism. There is no question that that this cultism must be exposed and the leaders must be held legally and morally accountable. I applaud the authors efforts to end the abuses ( Moore-Emmit is the president of the Utah chapter of NOW). Some of the contributors have formed the political group Tapestry Against Polygamy and have lobbied with some success for stronger enforcement of laws against polygamy - justifiably so.
  
  I certainly agree with the argument to end cultism and religious/sexual abuse. However, the author has gone so far as to generalize her small sample of data and the extremely abusive experiences of this group of Mormon cultists to all non monogamy. In her view these abuses justify calling for an end to all forms of marriage relationships other than monogamy. Not all non monogamists are radical religious cult members. Some even report a very positive experience in adult consensual non monogamist relationships (i.e. polyamorists).
  
  There is also another side to the Mormon polygamy question. Some claim to be having positive experiences living Mormon polygamy. To examine both sides of this debate readers should compare "God's Brothel" with the anthology edited by Batchelor, Watson and Wilde: "Voices in Harmony: Contemporary Women Celebrate Plural Marriage". These two accounts will allow the reader a unique insider's view on the two extremes of this issue voiced by the Mormon women who actually live the lifestyle.
  
  Although I deeply appreciate and sympathize with the victims voices in God's brothel and generally applaud this book, there is a glaring absence of a correct historical analysis of the true root of the problem. Moore-Emmit projects the abuses of Mormon Cultism on all forms of non-monogamy.
  
  In her too brief introductory historical review Moore-Emmit merely identifies Mormon church founder Joseph Smith as the instigator of the Mormon doctrine of polygamy, but she misses the important opportunity of sharing with the reader the essential details of the origins of the "fundamentalist" tactics that are used to abuse her victims. Modern "Fundamentalist" Mormons did not invent the abusive manipulations they use to oppress the women in "God's brothel". The sexual/religious abuse tactics described by all of Moore-Emmit's victims are "textbook" examples of manipulation tactics historically used by Joseph Smith. He was the original master manipulator. He is the instigator of the method and "theology" of religious blackmail that is described in this book and that is the source of the major problem of Mormon polygamy today. His cult methods are merely being mimicked today by Mormon men who use them just as successfully (and unsuccessfully) as Smith did to talk wives into living "the principle". Missing from "God's Brothel" is the essential description of Smith: "God's pimp". There are many documented accounts of how Smith manipulated vulnerable underage girls into becoming his secret sexual partners. For example, the history of 14 year old Helen Mar Whitney clearly documents the religious threats Smith used in arranging with her parents his child marriage to Helen, and how she was pressured to acquiesce to an illegal marriage by powerful psychological religious manipulation in return for a promise of her parent's salvation (see Todd Compton's "In Sacred Loneliness"). Smith set the ugly pattern for all other later "fundamentalist" Mormon cult leaders to follow. This example of blatant religious extortion for sex, along with many others, is readily available to anyone taking the time to research the official historical records of the Mormon Church. These records form a tutorial for modern church elders who get labeled "fundamentalists". Mormon Fundamentalists are merely asking "What would Joseph do?"
  
  The women who were the victims of Smith's secret marriages detail their own accounts of his methods of how he manipulated those around him to act with complicity in a futile attempt to keep these sexual relationships secret from his wife, who abhorred polygamy. In a letter to the New York Sun following Smith's murder, his first wife, Emma, testified: "I never for a moment believed in what my husband called his apparitions or revelations, as I thought him laboring under a diseased mind...I shall educate my children in a different faith" (See Tammy Braithwaite's "A Mormon Odyssey"). Emma Smith was the first victim in "God's Brothel". Moore-Emmit needs to point this out.
  
  Until members of the modern Mormon Church who make the laws and set policy recognize that Smith's cult tactics are still alive and well within mainstream Mormonism, the modern Mormon church will remain blind to the fact that it continues to spawn elders trained in cult methods who get excommunicated for "fundamentalism" by simply mimicking Smith's own methods. Self righteous monogamous Mormons point to these "apostates" as their scapegoats and blindly fail to recognize their own cult practices that lie hidden beneath the carefully constructed public image of "Christian" respectability. As they down record numbers of anti-depressants (Utah has the highest rate of anti-depressant consumption in the nation), mainstream monogamous Mormon women laugh at the suggestion that they belong to a "cult".
  
  Moore-Emmit is in an awkward political position as she seeks to win cooperation in ending abuse from Mormons politicians who make and enforce the laws, and who themselves are covertly (and often unknowingly) complicit with the theology of religious cultism and abuse. Moore-Emmit recognizes that she cannot confront the larger mainstream Mormon enemy and ask the obvious: Why do Mormon public officials still make secret oaths of obedience in Mormon temples to always place church theology above their state oaths of office? Lurking in Utah State Government is Utah's shadow Theocratic State Government that won't bring an end this cultism that results in abuse. In short, Moore-Emmit has done a remarkable job, but she has confused non-monagamy with cult manipulation. Fundamentalist polygamy is merely the illegal child of legal mainstream Mormon cultism (which is been packaged in modern socially acceptable conformity and is hiding out in the guise of monogamy). Maybe Moore-Emmits next effort should document first person accounts of the marital abuses suffered under the hands of cultist tactics disguised as religious doctrine by the Mormon monogamist patriarchy. Would there then be a "Tapestry Against Monogamy?" Maybe what really is needed is a "Tapestry Against Mormon Cultism."
  
  
  

• Title is Accurate

  
  By A1R4SS0LU94UE1 on 2005-01-25
  I would just like to point out that the Doctrine and Covenants of the Mormon (or LDS) chruch still contains passsage 132, which supports polygamy. The fact that this hasn't been removed indicates that the relationship between Mormonism and polygamy is not simple. If Mormon leaders had totally turned their backs on polygamy, that passage would no longer be in the D and C. Also, referring to the groups in the book as Mormon fundamentalists is accurate because they adhere to all the Mormon texts and in fact believe themselves to be more observant Mormons because they are practicing the pure faith as Joseph Smith wrote it.
  
  

• Unbelievable.

  
  By AO7DTJRJY72F9 on 2006-02-05
  The book is written by several different women who lived inside different polygamist groups. It was hard for me to believe that this type of practice still exists and it makes me sick that we allow this to continue within any state inside the U.S. I recommend this book to people interested in this subject. I read this book after reading, "Under the Banner of Heaven" and would recommend that book to anyone who hasn't read it yet - it explains the history of this religion and how the polygamy came to exist within it.
  
  
• Wake-up call on the abuses inherent in polygamy
  By A3O76JZ8DF8KO7 on 2005-07-30
  This powerful book is hard to read at any length because of the horrifying stories it contains. It is clear that polygamy (specifically the marriage of many women to one man) turns ordinary men into abusive cult leaders. Want to create your very own Jim Jones, David Koresh or Sun Myung Moon? Then tell a man it is God's will that he should marry many wives. He will proceed to ignore the emotional anguish of his wives as they try and fail to suppress their inevitable jealousy, and he will walk around as if he is perfect and beyond reproach even as he perpetrates or encourages rape, incest, child abuse, neglect, welfare fraud, and murder. Only a truly cruel God would wish such a fate on women and children. The mainstream Mormon Church should have not merely discontinued the practice of polygamy (as they did in 1890); they should have declared that the entire revelation of Joseph Smith with regard to polygamy had been mistaken. But they didn't, and as a result breakaway sects of fundamentalist Mormons still feel encouraged to engage in this destructive practice. Meanwhile, the State of Utah, being dominated by Mormons, tries as much as possible to ignore the abuses. After a thoughtful introduction by the author, this book contains the painful stories of 18 women who broke free. You will not be able to take a laissez-faire attitude to polygamy again after you read this.
  
  
• Chilling Expose on Sexual Slavery in the Name of God
  By A1IVMLDMX8UOC5 on 2004-08-20
  Anyone who believes polygamy and slavery are sins of other cultures or times, will find this disturbing collection of true stories about contemporary American women who have escaped from polygamous marriages both shocking and a call to action. Readers learn about girls who are "bred" to become young brides of their own male relatives or of their father's close friends, of women denied education, freedom, and even the use of money, and of local government officials complicit in keeping the women and girls enslaved, even physically beaten.
  
  Most chilling to me is the patriarchy's justification for polygamy, rooted primarily in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' (Mormon) history and doctrine. Although polygamy was officially outlawed by the Church in the late 1800s via a revelation (that many fundamentalists believe was politically motivated so Utah would attain statehood), the practice flourishes in growing enclaves in Utah and surrounding areas.
  
  This powerful expose shows how the huge families of sister-wives and children drain welfare funds in order to survive and typically live in poverty while the patriarch enjoys his sexual, monetary, and religious status. It also tells of a group called TAPESTRY that is dedicated to helping the women and children escape from the religious and sexual domination of these men.
  
  My feelings while reading this book included anger and disbelief, shock and sorrow, a voyeuristic horror, and finally pride in the women brave enough to tell their stories to the author so that the sexual predators could be "outed" and their victims, especially the young girls, offered hope of escaping the horror of this slavery. Polygamy in God's name is certainly NOT "sex between consenting adults" when young girls are treated as wombs and chattel, and given no choice in who or when they wed.
  
  By giving a voice to the brave sister-wives, and creating an underground railroad route for others to escape, "God's Brothel," the author and other members of TAPESTRY may be the Harriet Tubmans of our time.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Yikes!
  By A19LF6TAS3JCQX on 2006-11-08
  This expose is badly needed.
  
  I am not a Mormon, but I do know that the original believers advocated polygamy and later on the mainstream LDS church repudiated it. Since I don't have a thorough knowledge of Mormon doctrine so I'll not attempt to do a critique on it here.
  
  But I do know that the kind of polygamy shown in this book is ghastly. That's the only way I can describe it.
  
  1. First of all, the young age of these brides is unbelievable. Twelve, thirteen, fourteen years old. I believe that no matter what the culture, a person needs to mature emotionally and physically before marriage.
  
  2. The refusal of many of these men to support their wives and children, making them dependent on the welfare system. This is just plain unbiblical. Even in the early cases of polygamous marriages in the Old Testament, the Patriarchs kept their wives and families fed and cared for.
  
  3. The spousal beatings. If these people claim to believe the Bible along with their Mormon doctrines, they will have to realize that there is not one command given to men (in either the Old or New Testaments)that they can beat their wives. In one of the examples given in Moore-Emmet's book, a man hit his wife so hard that he broke her eardrum. Religion or no religion, there's one word for an act like that -- it's a CRIME! And it needs to be prosecuted as one. (By the way, the man I just mentioned was prosecuted later on.)
  
  4. Although this book mostly concentrated on the plight of the girls, it also showed that young boys can be victimized, too -- that sometimes they are considered threats to the older men who want the young wives.
  
  5. The slowness of the city and state governments to do anything about it. When the whole state is majority Mormon, I can understand the uneasiness about prosecuting polygamy in general, although I think it needs to be done. But how about outright abuse that is against the law? Or, for those who think they are above the law of the United States, how about against the Bible itself?
  
  I think polygamy is set up for problems, and I'm not just saying this because I'm female. History is full of family squabbles over the children of one mother ganging up on their half-brothers and sisters who are descended from a different mother. It can breed a lot of jealousy and resentment because many men will have their favorite wives and neglect the others.
  
  It's a thorny problem that won't go away soon. But thanks to this and other books like it, our attention can be guided to the problem and some time in the future we can find a solution. We must never forget about it.
  
  
• Totally misreprented from the title to the end
  By AI5CFOPHQXROO on 2004-11-29
  Polygamists are not Mormon anymore than the members of the original Church of Christ were still Mormons because that Church was a splinter group from the LDS. I don't imagine too many Christian sects claim the persons in this book either.
  
  Using the word "Mormon" and the words "Christian Fundamentalist" is nothing but sensationalism to sell books.
  "Christian Fundamentalism", by it's very nature, would reject polygamy, as does the LDS Church.
  Portraying the people in the title of the book as true Mormons and true Fundamentalists is deplorable. It is almost as deplorable as the subject matter and the author.
  
  
• "...you are sharing one penis. That's what it all revolves around."
  By A3RTC17QVQGML7 on 2005-07-21
  (The fundamentalist groups represented in this book practice polygyny, not polygamy. One would think those who adhere to this lifestyle would want the word used correctly. Demonstrably, education really *isn't* a high priority in their world.)
  
  Via the very effective combo of academic discussion and first-person narrative, God's Brothel provides access to an almost entirely closed world of severely limited choices, institutionalized defiance for the law, overtly acceptable child abuse of all kinds, scathing jealousies, and dire poverty--all in the name of religion.
  
  So what's new? Such has been true throughout time. Perhaps one shouldn't be shocked that it's happening here and now, as is depicted in this book. After all, people have been folded, spindled, and mutilated in the name of religion since the beginning of settled societies thousands of years ago. Why worry about such a thing happening in Utah, here and now, when it's happening on almost every continent, just as it always has, just as it always will?
  
  Personally, i'm outraged at the systematic abuse of the helpless by the polygamous religious cultists as so clearly portrayed in this book because i believe ardently that there are always more people who care, more people who are appalled and offended by such fanatics, then there are people who actually *are* such fanatics. There are more people who want to help, who want to make it better then there are people who want such abuse to continue--wherever and whenever it happens. I believe that. I do.
  
  To whom do I send my contribution for the work Tapestry Against Polygamy continues to do?
  
  
• This book with touch your heart...
  By A2MT5DSM0YG9HT on 2004-08-20
  Over the years I have learned tidbits about polygamy from Andrea herself but reading this book put a totally different light on it. Before I could only imagine what was going on and never really knowing what polygamy was all about. Now after reading this book I want to and need to do something about this. These men are so disgusting and what these women had to endure is just amazing and extremly disturbing. With this book you go into the lives of these women and you can feel what happened to them, it's absolutly amazing. I am truly inspired that these women came fourth and told their stories and I continue to believe that these men need to be held accountable for what they are doing. They are sexual, physical, emotional abusers, pedaphiles, murders, and just plain sick!!
  
  I thank you Andrea for giving this wonderful book to the world to read, I am hoping and praying that things will be changed because of your courage and that of all the wonderful people fighting to change this and that these men will be prosecuted to the fullest, meaning to me that they will never be allowed in society again!!
  
  
• well researched book
  By A1E5DMJ3DQVLE5 on 2008-01-01
  
  I was very impressed with the research into the various groups who practice Pologmy worldwide. This book has a map showing where these groups are thoughout the USA, and if they are Christian, Muslim or Fundamentalist Morman. She does explain that the Modern LDS church DOES NOT condone Pologamy, and explains why some groups continue to believe that this is the only way to heaven.
  
  The first part of this book is a history of Pologamy, and gives a summary of many groups and how and why they got started. She makes it very clear that this is not just a "Morman" occurance, but rather widely practiced in many religions.
  
  The second part contains 18 stories of women and girls from various groups who have chosen to withdrawal from this lifestyle, and have begun to speak out what their experience were, and how it affected them and their families. It is an eye-opening group of stories, allowing the reader inside the walls of the groups.
  
  The people who become involved in these groups come to a believe that this lifestyle will be an escape from the stressful way the modern American lives. It appears to be a close knit family, pulling their money together, avoiding outside stressors, and living a Godly life in order to obtain lasting life in the hear-after.
  
  Perhaps there are many groups who do practice the above: however, what this book tells is the stories where the system has gone corrupt, forcing girls as young as 12 into marriages, demanding they have a child a year, discarding males, and using the public welfare system to support the children. Education is withheld, and attempting to leave the groups can become a deadly game for the women and children.
  
  I recommend this book for anyone interested in studying this lifestyle because it tells stories of all religious pologmany groups, and you hear the actual stories of 18
  
  
  
  
• Very angry
  By A321W4SSC0F6AP on 2007-05-27
  I'm giving this book a 5-star rating, because I think everyone should read it. It's an important book.
  
  However, I have to warn you: these stories are angry. Say it again in a high-pitched, Margaret Cho-like screech--These stories are ANNN-GRY!!
  
  I suppose that anger is the emotion you feel most after a lifetime of abuse, so I guess it makes sense.
  
  As far as I can tell, this is a book about abuse. However, I think this book tried to take on way too may topics. I was left with these questions, which I think are all of the topics the book tried to tackle.
  
  Is the book trying to be critical of the Mormons for no longer practicing polygamy?
  Are they trying to be critical of the Mormons for not supporting anti-polygamist efforts more?
  Is the book trying to stop underage marriages in polygamist groups?
  Is the book trying to stop polygamy from ever happening?
  Is the book trying to outlaw polygamy?
  Is the book trying to inform the public about polygamist culture?
  Is the book trying to stop incest?
  Is the book trying to stop marriages that would result in incest (first cousins or closer)?
  Is the book trying to be critical of the state of Utah?
  Is the book trying to criticize the Mormon Church for distancing itself from polygamy?
  Is the book trying to get people to donate to Tapestry Against Polygamy?
  Is the book trying to pressure people once heavily involved in Tapestry Against Polygamy to return to working more for Tapestry Against Polygamy?
  Is the book trying to talk about the prevalence of polygamy in the US and Mexico?
  Is the book trying to say that men are bad?
  Is the book trying to say that men, when in a polygamist religion, will eventually turn into abusive molesters?
  Is the book trying to say that polygamists should use doctors?
  Is the book trying to expose the covered-up deaths of some polygamists?
  Is the book trying to expose tax fraud in polygamist religions?
  Is the book trying to vilify all polygamist leaders?
  Is the book trying to let polygamist women know that they can marry who they love instead of their old uncle?
  Is the book trying to let polygamist women know how to escape?
  
  I don't know. I really don't know. I couldn't put the book down, but the content confused me.
  
  I think it would have been better this book had been just about one topic, or even limited to two, three, or four topics. Then, this book might have actually made a difference. This book has a very low likelihood of making a difference because it's really just a "rant" book.
  
  Each of the 18 chapters is supposed to tell a story about a woman. Really each chapter is only 1/4 the woman's story and the rest additional commentary. The content of this book really seemed like the story of one women rather than the story of eighteen women. But, I couldn't tell for sure.
  
  I was left wondering what was factual in this book. I attribute this to the book trying to tackle so many different topics at one time.
  
  I could only conclude one thing for sure about polygamy from this book--that in polygamy a man will sleep with only one wife at a time. That was a question I had, and this book answered it.
  
  I also need to mention the title--the title has nothing to do with the book. It's only there to provide a shocking title so that people will read the book
  
  One of the basics about abuse is that abuse is not about sex to the abuser; it has to do with control and power. The title is probably harmful in that it seems to indicate that the rape and molestation are more about sex than about control and power.
  
  Overall, though, you should read this book. Hopefully this book spurs many more books to be written, and hopefully they're a lot more focused.
  
  
• The Taliban in America
  By A3FGOAT1QSSEKV on 2008-02-13
  The subject matter is highly disturbing and a must read for anyone who thinks that this sort of horror only goes on in backwards third world countries. The writing is uneven but the content makes up for it's faults. I was angry for days.
  
  
• Biased agenda skews reality and truth
  By A2UY0R3GZW7T2P on 2004-09-19
  Though I ache for those individuals who are in any way abused, and indeed appreciate this forum, which allows them to share their story (in a hopefully therapeutic manner), I caution readers to read with an open mind, recognizing that it is not the culture, but the individual members, who abuse. Abuse in any form must be stopped. But to say that polygamy is abuse (between consenting adults) is to abrogating freedom. I would encourage the readers to also read the book "Voices in Harmony," which presents the stories of women who live in plural marriage. There are two sides to every issues. In some way, plural marriage was indeed approved by the God of the Old Testament. But I agree that it's a life which is only for those who choose it. There were a few typos in the book. It was a quick read, and I would recommend it as long as it is read in conjunction with the book above.
  
  
• approprite title for worthwhile book
  By AL6SHTJMIQU0H on 2008-03-20
  I finally got this book after reading other books dealing with these problems and all internet articles I could find for three years regarding the fundamentalist Mormons in the US and Canada.
  
  I do not understand why a lot more has not been done to stop such outrageous practices as have been well documented by this author. I was in Utah a few years ago, prior to doing the reading I have since done, and there I saw headlines regarding the childbride problem and actual communities I now know are polygamist enclaves. (I noticed the poverty and backwardness in some areas and already had assumed the isolation and deprivation of polygamy could be the cause.)
  
  It is sickening to know that US citizens, born here for generations back, are suffering in all these ways because the states involved will not prosecute when "religious beliefs" cross the other existing laws made to protect the innocent and naive. This book should be required for all Utah and Arizona legislators, and unfortunately, also now Texas, Colorado, Canada, Montana, and Wyoming. This is a dreadful thing to allow to continue in our great nation.
  
  
• A great supplement to Krakauer's `Under the Banner of Heaven'
  By A2PEVP36Y5A2EQ on 2008-05-11
  This is about Bible-based fundamentalist polygamy. This is a hot topic associated with the current best seller Escape and also Jon Krakauer sensational Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith. Those books convey polygamy is a euphemism for cults that promote child rape and women enslavement.
  
  The author discloses a map showing Mormons and Christian fundamentalist polygamist communities spread all over the U.S. and Mexico. Some members live in major cities besides Salt Lake City such as Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Sacramento. Fundamentalists LDS (Mormons following the original scriptures of Joseph Smith) are fragmented among tens of groups. Those groups split apart to create new groups in other areas. They are lead by self appointed leaders who claim being direct descendents of either Joseph Smith or Jesus.
  
  These self-proclaimed prophets are delusional. They rewrite the history of the world to fit their mad self glorification (pg 157). They have apocalyptic visions of the return of Christ. Some proclaim communicating with beings from other planets (pg 156). Others lead anti-government militia and believe the government controls the weather (pg. 169). A few have been arrested and placed in azylum.
  
  Groups splitting results from rivalries. A rival breaks away from a group to start his own, declares himself a prophet. The splitting gets violent with killings under the guise of religious "blood atonement." Such killings are also aimed at members trying to escape.
  
  The author suggests that the ills of fundamentalist polygamy emanate from Joseph Smith scriptures. She quotes his `Doctrine and Covenants': "And if he have ten virgins..., he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him,... if one... of the ten virgins..., shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed..." Those words engendered communities that both the author and Jon Krakauer compare to the Taliban.
  
  The author covers the history of the Mormon Church and how mainstream Mormons renounced polygamy only under military attacks from the Feds. To this day she indicates that in Utah State and police authorities make efforts to avoid prosecuting polygamy and related crimes (child molesting and rape, etc...). As polygamists referring to Utah authorities say "That prosecution dog don't hunt."
  
  Such communities are disasters for males too. If the average male has 5 wives, this means 80% of the males are ousted to maintain this unnatural 5-to-1 female/male multiple. What happens to the 80% of males? The author states on page 50 "they are driven away... [or] stay to become worker bees ... or they die mysteriously." On page 181, she reiterates how they die mysteriously of car accidents on rural roads with no traffic.
  
  Such societies are disasters for children. They are deprived from descent education, nutrition, and parenting. They are exploited as child labor to work for free for the businesses managed by those communities. The level of child abuse, beating, molestation, pedophilia, sodomy of young boys, and rape is sickening. On pg. 171: "My father began raping me when I was eight years old. My mother sexually abused all of us..." Herpes among very young children related to sexual abuse is common. Girls as young as nine are ordered to marry relatives sometimes in their fifties. They bear children soon after risking their own lives in the process. They never receive adequate medical care. They are taken out of school at a young age to ensure their total economic dependence.
  
  From a genetic standpoint, this lifestyle is insane. The level of in-breeding through inter-marriages is unprecedented in the U.S. The rate of Down syndrome, autism, dwarfism, and deformities in many of those communities is sky high. Down Syndrome is hoped for by expectant parents because such individuals are compliant and bring in larger government benefits (pg. 173). Community leaders attribute those deformities as God's punishments to wives that have not been subservient. They don't know that procreating through incest, uncle and nieces, and brothers and sisters is not good.
  
  The health of women is entirely subjugated to procreation. Women are ordered to produce a child per year regardless of their health condition. Women often have more than 10 children with little means to support any. On page 126, a testimonial describes a woman dying of brain cancer who gave birth against the advice of the doctors. She died during childbirth. Child birth is undertaken without any descent health care support. On page 136: "Brenda's pregnancy ended in miscarriage, and she hemorrhaged for four hours with out any medical attention." Treatment of women amounts to persecution (pg. 163: `Her husband had mutilated her genitals ... with fishing wire.'
  
  From an economic standpoint, those communities are failures. They live in some form of totalitarian communism whereby all economic resources and assets are owned by the Church. The individual laborers (mainly wives and children) keep nothing. Economic subsistence is solely reliant on State and Federal subsidies. Those communities are all adept in extracting the maximum government benefits totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars. And, they are proud of this feat. They call it "bleeding the beast" as an effort to bring the government down.
  
  The testimonials of the 18 women who survived polygamy are nauseating. This passage comes to mind: `When Laura was four, one of her stepbrothers tied her to a bedpost and attempted to rape her... After I was crying, my father told me he would slap me until I stopped crying, which he proceeded to do... My mother made herself busy in the kitchen so she wouldn't have to watch." Another passage: `on her 16th birthday, her father took her for a ride in his Cadillac because it was time for her "Sexuality Lesson."
  
  The book gives you much more in depth info that I don't come close to cover. This is an important book to read for anyone interested on the subject.
  
  
• The information I wanted to know
  By ABFXG7IORIXPW on 2008-05-19
  I bought this book to find out what was actually going on in the fundamentalist branches of the LSD Church. I also wanted to know how all this was viewed by the mainstream LSD church. I felt the information was well researched and documented. I learned what I wanted to know in an interesting way. I feel the title "God's Brothel" was probably picked by the editors to sell the book. It sounds sensationalist but it is not.
  
  Every taxpayer who thinks that this subject is about religious freedom and not worth analyzing should read this book. They will find that this appalling story is about abuse of power and abuse of the American system by men who abuse religious power over women and abuse the welfare system to amass wealth which is the other side of the story.
  
  Read it whether you think you're interested or not, because you will be.
  
  
• Great stories!
  By A1WJDE5M9QTHXX on 2007-11-29
  I read this book last year and I couldn't put it down.
  
  The film, BANKING ON HEAVEN, is now available on Amazon. Check it out!
  
  
• Disturbing, Disgusting, and Unanswered Questions
  By A32SL0VFPGT127 on 2008-05-09
  I read this book yesterday, and several others over the last few months. They all provided the basic background for polygny in the US, primarily stemming from the roots of Mormonism. Carolyn Jessop's "Escape" was by far the most thorough and informative. The 18 individual stories in this book are very disturbing, and I do applaud these women for finally breaking away. BUT--I still have many unanswered questions and concerns about the women in these situations--both those who left and many others who did not. Many of these 18 women consciously and willingly joined the lifestyles, and even bounced from one bad situation to another before finally leaving.
  
  Overall the motivation of the males is obvious--power and dominance over weaker individuals. The men essentially are given free reign to physically, emotionally, and sexually abuse anyone in their household, and many take full advantage of the opportunities.
  
  The motivations of the females, however, are not clear, and this book did little to help me sort those out--it just made me madder. The maternal instinct is incredibly powerful, but for many of these women it is apparently either not present or not strong enough to combat their personal quest for religious salvation. This book (and none of the others I have read) does not attempt to explain the psychology that contributes to these mothers allowing their children to be abused.
  
  All that said, it is a book worth reading if only to get a better understanding of the scope of the problem, and the kinds of women involved in the lifestyle.
  
  
• God's Brothel: Very informative!
  By A3B751G0LSO096 on 2008-05-13
  This book gives a small history of polygamy and then chronicles the lives of women who lived it. Short (6-10 page) chapters highlight each woman's experience and it is a very fast read.
  
  I am just finishing the book and my eyes have truly been opened about Polygamy in the U.S. It's sickening what I've learned about these poor innocent children raised in these sects. It's encouraged me to get involved to help stop this madness.
  
  
• God's Brothel, by Andrea Moore-Emmet.
  By AJCFOCO6V9QQU on 2008-05-25
  God's Brothel: The Extortion of Sex for Salvation in Contemporary Mormon and Christian Fundamentalist Polygamy and the Stories of 18
  This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in learning more about the psychological dynamics employed by Fundamentalist, FLDS sect leaders to control the lives of the women they "spiritually" marry. All who wonder about these sects of FLDS clans should read this book. The book reveals the extant of control and mental abuse that is a basic tenet in the mental control of multiple wives and their many children. The men make the wives live in poverty and on welfare and foods stamps as the male leaders absolutely control ownership of all property and the considerable wealth of these communes. The men refer to this practice of getting federal aid as "bleeding the beast", or seditiously attempting to bankrupt the Government of the United States.
  
  Male children become undesirables as they approach adolescence because there are just so many 13 year old "virgins" to go around as teen brides for the elders of these clans. Teenage boys either become homeless ("lost boys") without education or trade except carpentry skills. In many cases, these boys are excommunicated for trivial transgressions like talking to girls or watching television. Within some sects (i.e. the LeBaron clan) teen boys are taken into the desert, shot and buried. Ervil LeBaron even murdered his own daughter, Becky in "Blood Atonement" for questioning his authority.
  
  Women and children are chattel (property), to be dispensed to favored elders as rewards for their fealty to their leader. In many cases, spiritual wives and children are taken from one husband and given to other, more favored male elder. There is no paperwork trail except "Temple Sealing" documents as proof for these exchanges. No marriage license is required. This book discusses the Morman "Doctrine and Covenants-132", written by Joseph Smith in which he (in his unique method of convoluted reasoning) justifies the "taking of virgins" as being justified by the Heavenly Father. However, all LDS church members support these Doctrine and Covenants in the belief that they become polygamists after death to create "spirit babies" which are then transported by Morman families to earth.
  
  The book details the story of (18) women who came from several of the (11) active sects of FLDS, "families". The women in this book were offered shelter in organization called the Tapestry of Polygamy for support and counseling which prepares they and their children for entry into an outside society which is totally foreign to their experience, training and belief systems. Many of these women have to be relocated out of state, and be given new names as protection against being found and severely punished by the "Prophet" for leaving their sect.
  
  
• Interesting subject but poorly written
  By A21WLA92VGRVHI on 2008-07-29
  This book was hard to follow because the author is not a good writer. It's too bad because this subject fascinates me and I have read quite a lot about it. I don't recommend this book.
  
  
• DON'T BOTHER - POORLY WRITTEN, WASTE OF TIME
  By A1Z3ND7RHF4KU1 on 2008-09-07
  While not many would argue that abuses happen in SOME polygamous families, most would also readily agree that the same alleged abuses occur in "normal" families (whether one parent or two). It seems that the writer has an agenda, and lets this color every sentence contained in this book. Unfortunately, she begins with an unconvincing legal analysis which can be likened to the decades of arguments supporting slavery, prohibitions on interracial marriage, and those forbidding same-sex marriage. Like it or not, some people may CHOOSE to live lives we don't all agree with. Fortunately, most of us take a live and let live attitude, and respect the right of the individual to be self-determinative - this is the essence of being an American. This is not true of Ms. Moore-Emmett who apparently knows best how each of us should live, after all she tells us throughout this book how things SHOULD be, and how we should and shouldn't be allowed to live - she's not exactly capable of an unbiased look at the subject. Furthermore, I was offended by the fact that she wrote about the experiences of the women as she interpreted them (complete with unnecessary commentary), rather than allowing these women to have and use their own voices. I would have enjoined hearing the storytellers' voices rather than the author's interpretation of what their stories meant as she heard them. This is particularly true because Ms. Moore-Emmett is NOT a great writer.
  In addition to the poor writing, the muffling of the womens' voices, and the extraordinary bias, are the errors. For example, early in the book she tells us that Joel LeBaron continues as the prophet of the LeBaron group, but approximately half way through the book she quite correctly tells us Joel was executed at the command of one of his brothers. On pages 102-103 she tells a story of one man losing his job for stealing arms from a military base to prepare the Utah group for Armageddon, then on the very next page, she tells us they were stolen the arms to sell to Iran. Well which is it? Does the compound need to defend against the imminent Armageddon, or is the man aligned with terrorists? It seems the author will stretch the truth of the story to make it more interesting. This point brings to mind the confusing nature of the writing - several times I reread portions in an attempt to understand who had performed certain acts, or who was involved in certain transactions, and even with several reads it was sometimes impossible to be certain.
  Overall, this book is a simplistic, conclusory, and biased look at a complex issue. There are many much better books on the market that allow the women of polygamy to speak for themselves, and these tend to represent a much more balanced look at the subject. While I have no interest in living polygamy or polygyny, I cannot confidently say we should have the right to interfere with the choices individuals make, except to the extent that they ask us to support it through various forms of public assistance. Perhaps the answer is not prosecuting polygamy since we have seen this fail several times, but to place restrictions or conditions on aid. I'm sure this action would also be met with arguments of privacy violations, but at the end of the day, I think most taxpayers would agree that some sacrifice for a handout that can be refused is fair.
  
  
• Interesting Subject Matter, Not So Greatly Written
  By AQKKQ6L7Q9YJS on 2008-10-24
  God's Brothel is a fascinating look at polygamy in the United States within the fundamentalist Mormon religion. According to Joseph Smith, the founder and first prophet of the Church of Latter Day Saints, he received a revelation that the "principle" of polygamy was to be followed, and they did. Years later, as the LDS church eventually settled in Utah territory, the big issue with attaining statehood was that they practiced polygamy. The reigning prophet of that time received a new revelation; polygamy was no longer to be practiced and the LDS Church threatened to excommunicate anyone who did so. Well, there were many followers who didn't accept this and saw this not as a true revelation but one that was "received" just to satify the United States government; they were unwilling to recognize this new revelation and
  went on to form offshoots of the LDS Church.
  
  God's Brothel is not a bad book but it's not a great one either. It attempts to give some background on some of the fundamentalist churches, the psychology of why these women stay and also includes a few personal stories of women who have left their respective churches. My biggest problem with the book is that it feels like the author was trying to fill up space with big print and many wasted pages with forwards and introductions and not enough content. There was so much more to say and the personal stories and background infomration could have had a little more depth.
  
  There are much better books out there that give a personal viewpoint of what it's like to live (and leave) polygamy such as "Escape" by Carolyn Jessup who really explains why women just don't leave. Another good one is "His Favorite Wife" by Susan Ray. Again, this is not a bad book but kind of like a Reader's Digest version of the subject matter. It's not worth the money.
  
  
  

• His Favorite Wife: Trapped in Polygamy
• Escape
• Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs
• Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife
• Daughter of the Saints: Growing Up In Polygamy