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Young men who have been excommunicated or pressured to leave polygamous groups such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS)^[1] are sometimes referred to as lost boys. They are allegedly 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.^[2]

Critics of the FLDS argue that with the birth of roughly equal numbers of boys and girls, the practice of polygamy leads unavoidably to shortages of marriageable females and a surplus of marriageable males. In particular, FLDS men are each expected to marry at least three wives.^[1]

While some boys leave by their own choice, many are ostensibly banished for conduct such as watching a movie,^[3] watching television,^[4] playing football, or talking to a girl.^[2] Some boys are told not to return unless they can return with a wife. There are also young women^[5] who have left or been pressured to leave because they did not want to be part of polygamous marriages.^[6] One estimate is that between 400 and 1,000 boys have been pressured to leave for such reasons.^[1]

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.^[7][8] These boys are usually left with little education or life skills and must learn to live in a world 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.^[4] 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.^{[9] [10]}

Fictional Portrayal

In the HBO television series Big Love, the main protagonist is a former lost boy, having grown up and 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.

See also

• Operational sex ratio
• Population dynamics
• YFZ Ranch

Notes

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 around 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)
• Dan Simon and Amanda Townsend (September 7, 2007). "Warren Jeffs' 'lost boys' find themselves in strange world". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/07/lost.boys/index.html.  
• 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
• The Diversity Foundation http://www.smilesfordiversity.org/cod.php