# Why don't FLDS men just wait until the girls are 18?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [April 18, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896 "2008-04-18T14:50:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/1 "2008-04-18T14:50:46Z")
While listening to the coverage of the [FLDS child abuse case](http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iIdMpRHjN4hpNKBhfYyAsR4DDo4QD8VT14F00) in Texas, my husband and I started wondering, why don’t FLDS men just wait until girls are 18 to “marry” them? It seems like it help keep them out of trouble with the law. (On a creepy side note, it also seems like an 18 year old’s body would be able to handle childbirth better than a 15 year old’s.)
Is there a rationale given for marrying underage girls? Is there some big spiritual reason why waiting until the girls are 18 and legal is a problem?
---
### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/2 "2008-04-18T14:56:20Z")
That’s like asking a rapist why he doesn’t just get some pr0n and whack it. These men are not part of a religion, they are in a cult whose power structure is designed to allow them to fuck young girls.
---
### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/3 "2008-04-18T15:02:59Z")
I have a feeling there is no “factual” answer to this question.
---
### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/4 "2008-04-18T15:07:17Z")
There is no factual answer. But…and I hesitate to say this…I do know why in some cultures men marry very young wives. Because of the following reasons:
1… You can almost ensure she is a virgin.
2. You can fully indoctrinate her in your ways, since she is so young.
3. 15 or so is a very vulnerable age for teens - half adult, half child. It is fairly easy to teach them your way is the right way, and to quickly get them pregnant before they get into what you consider trouble.
---
### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/5 "2008-04-18T15:09:34Z")
[QUOTE=friedo]
That’s like asking a rapist why he doesn’t just get some pr0n and whack it. These men are not part of a religion, they are in a cult whose power structure is designed to allow them to fuck young girls.
[/QUOTE]
:rolleyes:
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
---
### Author:  [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/6 "2008-04-18T15:13:05Z")
[QUOTE=friedo]
These men are not part of a religion, they are in a cult whose power structure is designed to allow them to fuck young girls.
[/QUOTE]
I agree with you. It’s a sick, fucked-up system. But I’m wondering how they justify it to themselves and to the women and children around them.
Your answers make sense to me, **Anaamika**. I’m wondering if, in addition to those reasons, there’s some kind of “spiritual” rationale they give.
---
### Author:  [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/7 "2008-04-18T15:20:26Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon]
I have a feeling there is no “factual” answer to this question.
[/QUOTE]
I’m not trolling or trying to be intentionally provocative, so I apologize if it comes off that way. I thought this would get more thoughtful responses in GQ than IMHO.
---
### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/8 "2008-04-18T15:23:50Z")
I’d assume it’s partly to do with the “purity” of children. Jesus was big on kids (not like that!) and I’m sure it’s a similar idea here.
---
### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/9 "2008-04-18T15:26:14Z")
[QUOTE=burundi]
I’m not trolling or trying to be intentionally provocative, so I apologize if it comes off that way. I thought this would get more thoughtful responses in GQ than IMHO.
[/QUOTE]
But \*\*Walloon \*\*was absolutely correct-- there is no factual answer to the OP.
---
### Author:  [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/10 "2008-04-18T15:27:07Z")
I don’t know but goddamn those women are fucking scary looking- some enterprising horror movie dirctor should jump on that and film a movie that has FLDS women trying to get young girls from town into their cult. I’m watching Larry King last night and freaking the fuck out seeing these pale faced glassy eyes freaks with 20 foot long braids talking in zombified tones about how blissful their life is. Then one normal looking one who escaped comes on and details how they “break” toddlers by beating them and holding their heads under water until they quit crying and “give in” like horses do? This is scary stuff.
---
### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/11 "2008-04-18T15:38:18Z")
What are peoples’ cite for the notion that there is no factual answer to the question of the OP?
I can not see how there could _not_ be a factual answer to the question.
-FrL-
---
### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/12 "2008-04-18T15:41:06Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock]
What are peoples’ cite for the notion that there is no factual answer to the question of the OP?
[/QUOTE]
If you think there’s a factual answer, then give us a cite for it. I can’t prove a negative. Seriously, though, there could be any number of reasons or no reason at all for why they don’t wait until the girls are 18. So unless the leader of that group confesses, or logs onto this MB, we aren’t going to know.
---
### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/13 "2008-04-18T15:45:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I agree with you. It’s a sick, fucked-up system
Agreed, but that’s certainly not confined to just cults!
---
### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/14 "2008-04-18T15:45:57Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace]
I can’t prove a negative.
[/quote]
But you can state that one is “absolutely correct?” Them’s strong words.
-FrL-
---
### Author:  [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/15 "2008-04-18T16:12:49Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace]
If you think there’s a factual answer, then give us a cite for it. I can’t prove a negative. Seriously, though, there could be any number of reasons or no reason at all for why they don’t wait until the girls are 18. So unless the leader of that group confesses, or logs onto this MB, we aren’t going to know.
[/QUOTE]
What I’m wondering is if a member of this group or any FLDS group has given a rationale for “marrying” girls who are underage. It seems like they must have some way to justify it.
Mods, feel free to move this to Great Debates or IMHO, if you feel it would be a better fit.
---
### Author:  [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/16 "2008-04-18T16:14:48Z")
Apparently, even among the FLDS, these super-young marriages are a relatively recent phenomenon. Slate has excerpts from a memoir by Carolyn Jessup, a woman who left the group (with her eight children) a few years ago, [here](http://www.slate.com/id/2189275/). In it, she says that
> [@](#):
>
> When Uncle Roy died in 1986, a man called Uncle Rulon took over. But Rulon was elderly and frail, and his favored son, Warren Jeffs, held the reins for many years. Carolyn says that marrying off underage girls was relatively rare before Rulon: “When Uncle Rulon first came to power, girls didn’t marry until they were over twenty. After his first stroke, the age dropped into the late teens. The sicker he got, the younger the brides in the community became.”
---
### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/17 "2008-04-18T16:37:36Z")
I suppose a factual answer could exist, if the FLDS had some written documentation that explicitly justified this policy or doctrine. However, I don’t expect this will be forthcoming here. Since this is about religion, and is controversial by its very nature, GD is probably the best place for it.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
---
### Author:  [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/18 "2008-04-18T16:43:26Z")
The answer is simple: They’re pedophiles. They want to fuck young girls and they’re using religion to tell themselves it’s OK.
---
### Author:  [@Snag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snag)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/19 "2008-04-18T16:48:29Z")
I’d think it’s easier to coerce youngsters and to break their will impinging your world view on them when they’re younger. Spare the rod, spoil the child so to speak.
Not that being a pervert doesn’t also have something to do with it.
---
### Author:  [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896/20 "2008-04-18T16:52:44Z")
[QUOTE=vibrotronica]
The answer is simple: They’re pedophiles. They want to fuck young girls and they’re using religion to tell themselves it’s OK.
[/QUOTE]
I agree 100%, but I think what the OP is getting at is that even with your most bizarro groups like this, the weird stuff they do has _some_ twisted basis on some weird interpretation of some bible quote or something like that. Those nutjobs who handle rattlesnakes at church do so because of one line in the Bible saying holy people should be able to do so without dying or something. Is there any passage that says thou shou fuck thy thirteen year old or something like that?
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-flds-men-just-wait-until-the-girls-are-18/445896.md?page=2)