Response to Glowbug from the last page of part 3, of the previous thread.
Sorry hon but 500 years ago has nothing to do with the freakin present and what is happening in tat compound.
I see you called me glowbug. Is that a term of affection or is it because I bug you...?:blowkiss:
I understand what you are saying about how we don't live by what happened 500 years ago. I believe though that the best indicator of the future is the past. I also understand that the FLDS don't live by what is considered "modern day." I believe these people need to change. I just don't agree that "might makes right" is the best way to change them. I think the biggest changes that have every been wrought in the world are the ones that take place when you reach peoples minds and hearts. You wont find productive change anywhere but there. To change a persons views you have to approach them with insight. You have to first understand WHY they do "what" they do.
Lets remove it from FLDS for a moment. Suppose a cruise ship wrecked and the only survivors on a nearby island was a handful of 2 - 4 year old boys and girls. They are too young to have absorbed the culturally appropriate signals from their elders on most topics, including sexual mores. Survival has honed earlier primal instincts that guide them. They eat what they can find. They sleep when it is dark. They get up when the sun shine pierces their eyelids. You get the picture...
At what age do you think that this group of kids will start discovering sex? I think you would agree that it would be when biology kicked in. With no one there to counsel them about waiting till they were more emotionally mature they would just follow the hormonal urges. If you go way back in mankind's history the fact that people got about the business of multiplying as soon as they were capable, is what brought us to the point of having a full planet today.
My point is that setting a law in the books is one thing. What really goes on is another. It used to be a perception that once a girl began her period that she was considered to be of marriageable age. And that puberty is the process of change that takes place as you grow up and become physically mature and capable of having children. Menstruation / periods usually takes place between the ages of 10yo and 16yo. I remember in my little tampon kit that my mom gave me when I started my period there was a glossy pink tri fold insert that began with "So you are a woman now".... that was in 1968. Apparently I had crossed some magic line from girlhood to womanhood.
The problem here is who gets to set the "magic" line. Before 2004 the state of Texas said that magic line was the age of 14. Some feel that date was moved up to counteract this sects settling in Texas. So does that mean if a 14 yr old got pregnant in 2004 we cant prosecute her impregnator now? If she is a 16 yr old with a 2 yr old baby, was that legal then and now its not?
Here are a few random dates from history concerning that "magic line"
Bianca of Savoy, Duchess of Milan was married aged 13yo (1350), and aged 14yo when she gave birth to her eldest son, Giangaleazzo (1351).
Theodora Comnena was aged 13yo when she was married King Baldwin III of Jerusalem (1158).
Agnes of France was 12yo when, widowed, she was married to Andronicus Comnenus, Byzantine Emperor (1182).
St Elizabeth of Portugal was aged 12yo when she was married to King Denis of Portugal and gave birth to three children shortly thereafter.
and here is a famous one I am sure everyone has heard of:
Lucrezia Borgia was married to her first husband aged 13yo and bore a son within a few years.
I personally think that the more mature a woman is before she undertakes a sexual relationship the better. I don't think that the majority of low ranking FLDS are up to speed. I think their current leader has taken advantage of history and biology to mislead them. But I DO understand how he has manipulated the things I mentioned above to lead them to where they are today.
One more interesting note. If you look up the state of Texas teen birth rate of girls aged 13 - 15? It is appalling. Their stats are WORSE than the FLDS's. And they are the ones who are going to "rescue" these children? Really?