Friday, April 2, 2010

Escape by Carolyn Jessop


Escape:
The Brady Bunch It's Not
Here's the story
of a lovely lady,
who was living with her 8 kids on her own.
There were 4 wives living all together,
yet they were all lone.
Then one day when this lady's finally fed up,
she decides that her God is surely dead.
So she leaves the man
who only wanted,
More women in his bed.

And that about sums up this tragic, heartrending, horrifying, stupifying, thought-provoking, faith- questioning story of a girl born into paligamy in Utah and pretty much forced into a marriage with someone 20 years her senior. She tries to live her life the way everyone says is God's way, only to find a life filled with hypocracy, abuse (both physical and mental), and the loss of her soul. Carolyn Jessop finally escapes with her children from what she calls the "cult" of the FLDS church (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints). This group started out as a peaceful, God-fearing bunch of Mormons, who happened to believe in "God's plan" to reward faithful Saints who live the paligamist life and have as many children as they possibly can pop out. With the coming of Warren Jeffs as their prophet and leader, the FLDS took on a new, more terrifyingly fundamentalist mentality and practice that is now getting them into trouble with the government and other more local law officials.

Yes, to answer the one question I always asked before I read so much about the FLDS, paligamy is illegal in this country. And yes, Utah, is indeed a part of our country, the United States. Why then aren't all these men in jail and all these children being cared for by Social Services? Well, is it illegal for a man to live with someone he is not married to and have children with her? Nope. The FLDS men only legally marry one wife, and the rest of them are simply married within the church, which are not legally recognized. Then, is there a limit on how many kids can live in one house? Apparently not in Utah.

There is so much to talk about in this book, that I can't go into it all here. The reason I liked the book and am so interested in these extremist Mormons is because they make me so angry. These Mormon men are using God to create a place that they can be respected for having a home filled with sexual slaves. Because that's what these women are, and they truly believe that they will not have an afterlife in heaven or anywhere else if they don't do as they are told and have as many children as their bodies can produce. How they come to believe this is not a result of some kind of rare mental retardation; it results from their birth into a world that is totally dominated by abusive men. By reading and listening to Carolyn Jessop's story, we can all learn something about the role women play in society, even if our worlds are not as extreme as Jessop's former world. It's a cautionary tale about how many, many women in their daily lives must fight against abuse and powerlessness and find a better way for themselves and their children, and that it is possible to do so.

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