Lost Boys of Polygamy
Encyclopedia
"Lost boys" are young men who have been excommunicated or pressured to leave polygynous
groups such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
(FLDS). They are allegedly pressured to leave by adult men to reduce competition for wives within such sects, usually when they are between the ages of 13 and 21.
FLDS men are each expected to marry at least three wives. But the number of boys and girls born are roughly equal (in humans, roughly 105 males are born for every 100 females). Without an influx of women from outside the community, the practice of one-husband/multiple-wives, or polygamy
, leads to shortages of reproductive-age females and surpluses of reproductive-age males.
While some boys leave by their own choice, many are ostensibly banished for conduct such as watching a movie, watching television, playing football, or talking to a girl. Some boys are told not to return unless they can return with a wife. There are also young women who have left or been pressured to leave because they did not want to be part of polygamous marriages. One estimate is that between 400 and 1,000 boys have been pressured to leave for such reasons.
Boys in these sects are commonly raised not to trust the outside world, and may be taught that leaving their communities is a sin worse than murder. These boys are usually left with little education or life skills and must learn to live in a world about which they know little, while dealing with the consequences of being shunned by their families, and believing they are beyond spiritual redemption. The families of banished boys are told that the boys are now dead to them. Some individuals, such as Dan Fischer, a dentist who left the FLDS church, work to help young men who have left or who have been ejected from polygamist organizations in cities like Hildale
, Utah
, or Colorado City
, Arizona
.
, the main protagonist is a former lost boy, having grown up challenging the elder who drove him out of their community as a teenager. The series portrays machinations of some senior men within a fundamentalist congregation to "reserve" young unmarried women for themselves.
Polygyny
Polygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time. In countries where the practice is illegal, the man is referred to as a bigamist or a polygamist...
groups such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is one of the largest Mormon fundamentalist denominations and one of the largest organizations in the United States whose members practice polygamy. The FLDS Church emerged in the early twentieth century when its founding members left...
(FLDS). They are allegedly pressured to leave by adult men to reduce competition for wives within such sects, usually when they are between the ages of 13 and 21.
FLDS men are each expected to marry at least three wives. But the number of boys and girls born are roughly equal (in humans, roughly 105 males are born for every 100 females). Without an influx of women from outside the community, the practice of one-husband/multiple-wives, or polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
, leads to shortages of reproductive-age females and surpluses of reproductive-age males.
While some boys leave by their own choice, many are ostensibly banished for conduct such as watching a movie, watching television, playing football, or talking to a girl. Some boys are told not to return unless they can return with a wife. There are also young women who have left or been pressured to leave because they did not want to be part of polygamous marriages. One estimate is that between 400 and 1,000 boys have been pressured to leave for such reasons.
Boys in these sects are commonly raised not to trust the outside world, and may be taught that leaving their communities is a sin worse than murder. These boys are usually left with little education or life skills and must learn to live in a world about which they know little, while dealing with the consequences of being shunned by their families, and believing they are beyond spiritual redemption. The families of banished boys are told that the boys are now dead to them. Some individuals, such as Dan Fischer, a dentist who left the FLDS church, work to help young men who have left or who have been ejected from polygamist organizations in cities like Hildale
Hildale, Utah
Hildale is a city in Washington County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,726 at the 2010 census.Hildale is a twin city to the more well-known Colorado City, Arizona, both of which straddle the border between Utah and Arizona. Hildale is the headquarters of the Fundamentalist Church of...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, or Colorado City
Colorado City, Arizona
Colorado City is a town in Mohave County, Arizona, United States, and is located in a region known as the Arizona Strip. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the town was 4,607...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
.
Fictional portrayal
In the HBO television series Big LoveBig Love
Big Love is an American television drama that aired on HBO between March 2006 and March 2011. The show is about a fictional fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah that practices polygamy...
, the main protagonist is a former lost boy, having grown up challenging the elder who drove him out of their community as a teenager. The series portrays machinations of some senior men within a fundamentalist congregation to "reserve" young unmarried women for themselves.
Documentary
Sons of Perdition, a full-length documentary depicting the real-life struggles of three lost boys, opened at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival in New York.See also
- Operational sex ratioOperational sex ratioIn the evolutionary biology of sexual reproduction, the operational sex ratio is the ratio of sexually competing males that are ready to mate to sexually competing females that are ready to mate...
- Population dynamicsPopulation dynamicsPopulation dynamics is the branch of life sciences that studies short-term and long-term changes in the size and age composition of populations, and the biological and environmental processes influencing those changes...
- YFZ RanchYFZ RanchThe YFZ Ranch, also known as the Yearning for Zion Ranch, is a community which housed as many as 700 people just outside of Eldorado in Schleicher County, Texas, United States. It is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints . It is about southwest of San Angelo and ...
- Sons of Perdition (documentary)Sons of Perdition (documentary)Sons of Perdition is a full-length documentary featuring a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of teenagers exiled from their families and community by Warren Jeffs, self-proclaimed prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...
External links
- Lost boys are the forgotten polygamy victims - Vancouver SunThe Vancouver SunThe Vancouver Sun is a daily newspaper first published in the Canadian province of British Columbia on February 12, 1912. The paper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. It is published six days a week, Monday to Saturday...
article by Daphne Bramham - Boys Cast Out by Polygamists Find Help - New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
article by Erik Eckholm, Published: September 9, 2007 - The Hope Organization (dozens of news articles 2004-2010)
- The Diversity Foundation http://www.smilesfordiversity.org/cod.php