Highlights many ofthe inherent problems of polygyny, but challenges the myopic media-driven depiction of plural marriage. This work criticizes the techniques used by state and federal governments to raid entire communities in the 1950s and in April 2008.

A provocative look at the costs and benefits of polygamy among western fundamentalist Mormon women

Did she choose that?’ Or, more normatively, ’Why would she choose that?’ This book critiques and offers an alternative to these questions, which have traditionally framed law and policy discussions circulating around controversial genderized practices. It examines the simplicity and incompleteness of choice-based rhetoric and of presumptions that women’s conduct is shaped, in an absolute way, either by choice or by coercion. This book develops an analytical framework that aims to discern the meaning and value that women may ascribe to morally ambiguous practices. An analysis of law’s approach to polygamy, surrogacy and sex work, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, provides a basis for evaluating the choice-coercion binary and for contemplating alternate modes for assessing, from a law and policy standpoint, the palatability of social practices that appear pernicious to women. Weaving together interdisciplinary research, an innovative analytical framework for assessing choices ostensibly harmful to women, and a critique of the legal rules governing such choices, this book bears relevance for students, scholars, practicing jurists and policymakers seeking a richer understanding of conduct that moves women to the margins of law and society.

Issues relating to sexuality, eroticism and gender are often connected to religious beliefs and practices, but also to prejudices against and fear of religious groups that adopt alternative approaches to sexuality. This is especially apparent in connection with new religious movements, which many times find themselves accused by the media and anti-cultists of promoting illicit and controversial views on sexuality. This anthology aims to critically investigate the role of sexuality in a number of new religious movements, including Mormon fundamentalist communities, the Branch Davidians, the Osho movement, the Raël movement, contemporary Wicca and Satanism, in addition to the teachings of Adidam and Gurdjieff on sexuality.

Coeditors Elizabeth Patton and Mimi Choi argue that an in-depth examination of media images of housework from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century is long overdue. Modern depictions often imply that certain concerns can be resolved through excessive domesticity, reflecting some of the complicated and unfinished issues of second-wave feminism. Home Sweat Home: Perspectives on Housework and Modern Relationships reveals how widespread the cultural image of “perfect” housewives and the invisibility of household labor were in the past and remain today. In this collection of essays, contributors explore the construction of women as homemakers and the erasure of household labor from the middle-class home in popular representations of housework. They concentrate on such matters as the impact of second-wave feminism on families and gender relations; of popular culture—especially in film, television, magazines, and advertising—on our views of what constitutes home life and gender relations; and of changing views of sexuality and masculinity within the domestic sphere. Home Sweat Home will interest students and scholars of gender, cultural, media, and communication studies; sociology; and American history and appeal to anyone curious about housework, gender relations and popular culture.

"At last some light, not just heat, about America's new polygamy scandal, its roots and ramifications. Both well reasoned and well written, this book shows the people and the principles at stake. It will change how you think about both."--Kathleen Flake, Associate Professor of American Religious History, Vanderbilt University --Book Jacket.

Religion, Gender, and Family Violence: When Prayers Are Not Enough brings together Canadian scholarship from sociology, law and religious studies in highlighting the perspectives of survivors, perpetrators, religious leaders, congregations and secular service providers.