A Polygamist's Wife

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Polygamist Background win real The Practice of Polygamy win real Escape from the Group win real
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Date:	04-20-08
Host:	Ian Punnett
Guests:	Irene Spencer

Irene Spencer, a fifth generation polygamist, shared her account of being the second of ten wives and the mother of 14 of her husband's 58 children. She eventually escaped from her polygamist community, which practiced a fundamentalist offshoot of Mormonism. The group didn't offer religious freedom, but a kind of brainwashing, that allowed for the abuse of women and children, she detailed.

We were taught that Jesus was a polygamist, said Spencer, who married her brother-in-law at the age of 16 in 1953. Most polygamists only have intercourse for procreation, so it's a myth that the husbands have a lot sex, she noted. They're taught that living in polygamy is necessary for eternal salvation, and those who don't practice this in the outside world are going to hell.

Her group moved down to Mexico and lived in extreme poverty. They sewed clothes together from discarded fabrics, and made and sold cheese. Suicide rates are high in such sects-- Spencer said nine of her nieces and nephews killed themselves. Eventually she left her husband and sister wives, moving to Alaska with her youngest children. Her husband died four years later in 1981, and she remarried into a monogamous relationship and became a born-again Christian. One son and two of her daughters are still entangled in polygamy, she added.

Bumper Music

Bumper music from Sunday April 20, 2008

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4.	From Your Mouth God Lives Underwater	5.	I Can't Explain The Who	6.	If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next Manic Street Preachers
7.	Hands of Time Groove Armada	8.	Kashmir Led Zeppelin	9.	Phenomenon LL Cool J
10.	Praise You Fat Boy Slim	11.	Suicide Blonde INXS	12.	Whirlpool's End Paul Weller
13.	White Wedding Billy Idol	14.	Sweet Little Sixteen Chuck Berry	15.	Midnight Express (The Chase) Giorgio Moroder
16.	Midnight Express (The Chase) Giorgio Moroder	17.	Distant Early Warning Rush