This is the true story of Flora Jessop. It is a shocking and disheartening tale of polygamy, sexual abuse, virtual slavery, and religious coercion with threats of damnation for disobedience.
Flora was born into the FLDS cult, or the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The religious beliefs of this bizarre cult are strange and numerous and, not being an expert on the beliefs, I will not go into them in detail. Suffice it to say that every thing is run by the men, with females relegated to child bearing, child rearing, home care and obedience.
If I were to describe this religion, I would call it a form of sexual slavery disguised as religion. Women are required to be entirely subservient to the demands and desires of the men. And young men are required to be subservient to the demands and desires of the old men. All the power resides with the old men and, naturally, such an out-of-balance situation leads to abuses.
Flora herself was abused throughout her childhood by her own father, eventually resulting in a pregnancy in her early teen years. She tried to appeal to the state authorities for help but was simply returned to her family. She tried to appeal to her mother, but her mother was too worn out and downtrodden to stand up to the male authority figures. The mother was also captive of her own beliefs, namely that disobedience results in eternal damnation.
After Flora was forced to abort the baby, she was held captive by one of the cult's elders and eventually forced into marriage with a cousin. And, although it was a forced marriage, Flora realized it could be her ticket to freedom. So she agreed to the marriage, and with her new husband's cooperation, left him and the cult. He was a nice young man who liked Flora, and, for her sake, let her go.
Her new life in freedom got off to a rocky start. Never having been permitted freedom, she went off the deep end, using drugs and drinking too much. Her life was unrooted and she drifted from place to place and from man to man.
But one day she realized what she was doing to herself and got herself straightened out. She met a nice man, Tim, and they settled down in Phoenix, Arizona. And that is when she began to seriously try to help other cult fugitives escape from the FLDS.
This was a moving and terrifying story, incredible that this sort of thing is allowed to continue in the United States in the name of religious freedom. Flora is a courageous and energetic woman who was able to conquer her abusers and her own inclinations for self-destruction. It is hardly surprising that some one raised in those conditions would end up in a downward spiral. But Flora rose above all that and now helps other desperate children, women, and even men
escape from a cruel and destructive religious cult.
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