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RELS 225 2009-03-04: Sexual DevianceRELS 225 2009-03-04: Sexual Deviance

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Review of last classFundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Why are NRMs accused of sexual deviance?

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Review: FLDSReview: FLDS

FLDS History: Split from main Mormon church 100 years ago Where: Utah, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, South Dakota, Creston and Bountiful, BCWarren Jeffs

Leader until November 20, 2007April 2008 Raid

March 30, 2008 tipApril 3-10: Texas Rangers in control of YFZ Ranch.May 29: Texas Supreme Court rules orders children to be returned.

Plural marriage and placement marriagea man having multiple wives is ordained by Godwives are required to be subordinate to their husbands.Women are assigned a husband by revelation to the prophet.

Social implications of polygyny excess males must leave (teen years) Importing females genetic disorders Females marry young before develop an interest in boys their own age. New unregistered wives can apply for welfare as single mothers. minimal education

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NRMs and Sexual DevianceNRMs and Sexual Deviance

Marginal religious groups have historically been accused of sexual deviance

No comprehensive study of this issue has been published

How do gender differences impact the study of NRMs?

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Sexual Deviance and the CultsSexual Deviance and the Cults

New religions tend to be “antinomian”Oneida community (1849-1881) in NY: complex marriage1960s sexual revolution counter-culture against sexual repression1970s David Berg’s “Children of God” The law of love; flirty fishing1980s Osho (Rajneesh): overcome western obsession with sex.Others are ascetic (Unification; ISKCON)

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Dilemmas of Moral RelativityDilemmas of Moral Relativity

Religious freedom is guaranteed by law. Who is to say what is “deviant”?

Does it victimize someone? Objectify them? Treat them as a means to an end?

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Religious Significance of SexReligious Significance of Sex

Why is sex prominent in cults?Associated with deepest, most intimate self

Symbolic of relations with the divine

Selflessness: putting others above the individual

Utopian ideals that everything should be shared

Abuses can creep in when larger society’s values are rejected

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Child Abuse and the Social Control of NRMsChild Abuse and the Social Control of NRMs

Anti-cult movement lost the brainwashing card, and turned to the child abuse card.Are children harmed simply by being raised by people with marginal beliefs? (People’s Temple; Branch Davidians; FLDS)1993 raid on Children of God in Argentina

No physical evidence of abuseDamages awarded to Childreon of God/The FamilyCOG introduced safeguards to protect childrenNo question David Berg was responsible for this reputation, and that some children were pressured into sexual activityBy 1987 these practices were disavowed, and by 1995 the movement reformed.

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Gender MattersGender Matters

Gender: a “master status” defining one’s sense of self.Feminist movement has challenged earlier roles, leading to anomie for women. NRMs often spell out new models of gender.Aidala 1985: low tolerance among women and men in NRMs for ambiguity in social roles.

Women relinquish some rights to give their men unambiguous roles as well.

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Gender Role Diversity in NRMsGender Role Diversity in NRMs

Palmer 1994: 3 part typology of sexual ideologies: sex-polarity; sex-complimentarity; sex-unity.

Sex-polar (ISKCON; Rajneesh): one sex is superior; limited relationshipsRajneesh has free love, to detach from sexuality; attracts women wanting empowermentISCKON has segregation

Sex-complimentary (Unification; Mormons): marriage is needed to unite two halves.Sex-unity: (Scientology; Raelians) one’s sex is irrelevant, not part of who you really are.

3 Common features:Reject courting phaseOnly one or two roles for womenReducing the load of child care

The women studied choose to find the solution to social anomie in spirituality rather than elsewhere

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Two twists on Palmer 1994Two twists on Palmer 1994

Davidman 1990: Women studied wanted a family

Difference in findings due to mainstream/marginal difference?

Women were responding not to gender ambiguity itself, but the haphazard way sexual experimentation was taking place in society.

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But what about the children?But what about the children?

Sexual “deviance” in NRMs is largely the search for “better” expressions of oneself as sexual beings.

But how can “better” be defined? Is it totally relative and subjective?

20/20 on the Children of God20/20 on the Children of God

HomeworkHomework

For Monday:“Why Do Some NRMs Become Violent?”Summarize Comprehending Cults Chapter 7 online

For Wednesday:Read “The Apocalypse at Jonestown,” chapter 12 in Cults and New Religious Movements: A Reader.Write online quiz on this reading