Women of Principle: Female Networking in Contemporary Mormon Polygyny

This book offers an in-depth study of the female experience in one Mormon polygynous community, the Apostolic United Brethren. Women in such rigid, patriarchal religious groups are commonly portrayed as the oppressed, powerless victims of male domination. Janet Bennion shows, however, that the reality is far more complex. Many women converts are attracted to this group, and they are much more likely than male converts to remain there. Often these women are seeking improved socio-economic status for themselves and their children, as well as an escape from their marginalized status in the mainstream Mormon church. In the polygynous group women experience rapid assimilation, autonomy, and upward mobility. Bennion supports her study with narratives from the lives of women now living in the group--narratives that clearly reveal why many mainstream Mormon women are viewing polygyny as a viable alternative to the difficulties to single-motherhood, "spinsterhood," poverty, and emotional deprivation.

Review :
"Using narratives from women in the Allred Mormom community, [Bennion] is able to show a variety of women's experiences, voices, and realities which reveal the positive and negative aspects of polygyny for these Mormon women. Women of Principle is a provocative study that will be of great interest to students and scholars of religion, anthropology, and gender studies."--Center for Women and Religion Newsletter "...she persuasively challenges predominant stereotypes about women's experience in patriarchal religions....Women of Principle is brisk, lively, and engrossing....Recommended for general readers and all academic levels."--Choice "...Bennion's study sheds new light on women's search for alternative forms of marriage and family in unconventional religious movements."--The Journal of Religion "Using narratives from women in the Allred Mormom community, [Bennion] is able to show a variety of women's experiences, voices, and realities which reveal the positive and negative aspects of polygyny for these Mormon women. Women of Principle is a provocative study that will be of great interest to students and scholars of religion, anthropology, and gender studies."--Center for Women and Religion Newsletter "...she persuasively challenges predominant stereotypes about women's experience in patriarchal religions....Women of Principle is brisk, lively, and engrossing....Recommended for general readers and all academic levels."--Choice "[An] excellent social anthropological work [examining] contemporary polygamy among fundamentalists with just enough history to show that the roots of these movements are undeniably Mormon."--Journal of Mormon History