Stepford Wives: anatomy of a cult

I recently brought to a close a 20+ year career as a psychologist, and although I never encountered any members professionally, have always found the nature of cults an extremely intriguing part of human behavior, which never ceases to amaze, whether positive or negative. I am not a specialist in this area and would never presume to write on the topic myself without a tremendous amount of study. Lacking that, I plan to post links here to articles about cults that I think are well done. We’re all reading about the polygamy and child abuse problems that have been uncovered this month in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that was established about 4 years ago in Eldorado, Texas. Watching the interviews of the women who live in this compound, sharing their husbands and bearing multiple children, brought back the image of The Stepford Wives. The faces of the LDS women are frightening to me in their blankness, and the robotic quality of their speech patterns and the content of their statements is also cause for wonder and worry. Some of these wives are little more than children themselves. It’s difficult not to wonder about the fate and the ultimate development of the 400 or so children that have been removed from the custody of their parents. What is particularly bothersome to me is the absence of the male presence in the news this week. Who are these guys?

This afternoon I read Time magazine’s article detailing the history of the establishment of the Yearning for Zion ranch in this small Texas community. The townspeople all along have known that something strange has been going on there. Here’s the link to the story, entitled “When the Polygamists Came to Town”:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1731706,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

We’re only scratching the surface as yet, I fear.

One of the questions troubling me is how those men manage to recruit so many women. I’d be interested in finding out what the male/female ratio actually is. Some news stories describe the group as raising boys to be users and abusers, and girls to be used and subservient. Slate Magazine this week ran a story on the question, “Where does the FLDS find all those women?” It doesn’t recruit from the outside. Their solution is rather heartless, and it makes you wonder what the impact on our society may be …..

http://www.slate.com/id/2189181/