"Babies Are Born As Blobs of Protoplasm"

After reading this glib "economic case for polygamy" (the basic argument is that polygamy would be good for women because single women would have a lot more men to choose from), I was led in the comments to this essay by a former Mormon about the legacy of polygamy in their community.

The practices she describes (and ascribes to contemporary Mormons) are nightmareish: women's "impurity" always being blamed for rare genetic deformities in their inbred children, white supremacist eugenics leading brother to marry sister, etc.

The discoveries and research within my own kindred so alarmed me that I studied other descendants of polygamy to see if their families also suffered from crippling illnesses. I am convinced they do. As bad as this past is, the mounting evidence is far worse. In 1991, I first became aware of the Latter Day Church of Christ (a.k.a. Kingston’s and The Davis County Cooperative Society), a Mormon polygamist offshoot and determined to interview within this virtually impenetrable closed polygamist group. One 1980s leader, John Ortell Kingston, married thirteen wives and sired over sixty-five children, many of them deformed. His wives included five nieces. One disillusioned former member claims “babies are born as blobs of protoplasm”, and “brothers marry sisters in an effort to build up a royal priesthood.” [11] I endeavored to publish this information. Editors suggested it was unbelievable. If only that were true.

There's something so naive about the writer that you almost doubt her. She seems to have a degree in science, so how could she be so shocked by the array of diseases in her inbred family? But no, she is completely sincere. I defy you to read about her and her cousins discovering that all their babies were born clubfooted without getting a little verklempt.

Note to self: never have a child with someone from Utah.

Never.


Tags:culture,polygamy,mormons, genetics, religion