Inside Polygamy

As we mentioned in class, the wives in the West Texas polygamy sect spoke on Larry King Live in what looked to me like an effort to get outsiders to have a look in at their lives to see that they are "normal". This included a tour of the compound and individual rooms, as well as a plea to the courts to have their children back. To me, their appearance had the reverse effect. Their speech was without emotion, their faces were drawn and I did not see much, if at all, of the humanity I was looking for in these women. To me, they seemed brainwashed, and instead of negating my views of polygamist sects, it confirmed what I have already known and studied in classes such as my freshman ISS course on cults. Their "tour" showed several rooms that held bunk beds for 7-10 people, with a portrait of their "father" hanging in each room, as if he is watching over them always. Sometimes I think that public appearances can help groups that are less understood by the majority, but in this case, I think it did more harm than good for these women.