Lost boys (Mormon fundamentalism)

For other uses, see Lost Boys.

"Lost boys" is a term used for young men who have been excommunicated or pressured to leave polygamous Mormon fundamentalism groups such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). They are pressured to leave by adult men to reduce competition for wives within such sects, usually when they are between the ages of 13 and 21.

Background

FLDS men are each expected to marry at least three wives. Since birth rates for boys and girls are roughly equal, and women do not enter the community in large numbers, there are not enough women for all men to do this.

While some boys leave by their own choice, many are ostensibly banished for conduct such as watching a movie, watching television, playing football, or talking to a girl. Some boys are told not to return unless they can return with a wife. One estimate is that between 400 and 1,000 boys and young men have been pressured to leave for such reasons. There are also young women who have left or been pressured to leave because they did not want to be part of polygamous marriages.

Boys in these sects are commonly raised not to trust the outside world, and may be taught that leaving their communities is a sin worse than murder. These boys are usually left with little education or skills applicable to life outside of their community of birth, and must learn to live in a society about which they know little, while dealing with the consequences of being shunned by their families, and believing they are beyond spiritual redemption. The families of banished boys are told that the boys are now dead to them. Some individuals, such as Dan Fischer, a dentist who left the FLDS church, work to help young men who have left or who have been ejected from polygamist organizations in cities like Hildale, Utah, or Colorado City, Arizona.

In popular culture

In the 2006-2011 HBO television series Big Love, the main protagonist is a former lost boy, having grown up challenging the elder who drove him out of their community as a teenager. The series portrays machinations of some senior men within a fundamentalist congregation to "reserve" young unmarried women for themselves.

The 2010 documentary film Sons of Perdition depicts the struggles of three real-life lost boys.

The 2013 Off-Broadway play "Exit 27" dramatized the story of 4 lost boys struggling to survive in the desert out side colorado city. Playwright Aleks Merilo based the script on interviews conducted with lost boys living in Hurricane, Utah.

See also

• Operational sex ratio
• Population dynamics
• YFZ Ranch
• Ex-Mormon

References

• Krakauer, Jon. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (2003).
• Emmett, Andrea Moore. God's Brothel: The Extortion of Sex for Salvation in Contemporary Mormon and Christian Fundamentalist Polygamy and the Stories of 18 Women Who Escaped (2004).
• Bistline, Benjamin G. Colorado City Polygamists: An Inside Look for the Outsider (2004). A Colorado City historian presents the beginnings of the group and its original religious doctrine.
• Bistline, Benjamin G. The Polygamists: A History of Colorado City, Arizona (2004)
• Tracy, Kathleen. The Secret Story of Polygamy (2001). Centered on the trial of John Daniel Kingston, who was tried for assault on his 16-year-old daughter.
• Llewellyn, John R. Polygamy Under Attack: From Tom Green to Brian David Mitchell (2004)
• Main Street Church. Lifting the Veil of Polygamy (2007). A documentary film on the history and modern-day expressions of Mormon polygamy, including numerous testimonials.

External links

• Lost boys are the forgotten polygamy victims - Vancouver Sun article by Daphne Bramham
• Boys Cast Out by Polygamists Find Help - New York Times article by Erik Eckholm, Published: September 9, 2007
• The Hope Organization (dozens of news articles 2004-2010)
• The Diversity Foundation http://www.smilesfordiversity.org/cod.php