Recently, debates about the social viability and human rights violations of contemporary fundamentalist Mormon communities have found their way into scholarly discourse, such as in the pages of the journal Nova Religio. Fundamentalist Mormons are a schism group from the LDS, the primary Mormon church. These religious sectarians practice polygamy, or plural marriage, provoking scandal by sometimes marrying teenage wives to much older husbands. The debates about the protection of women and children are but the academic portion of a larger cultural awareness of and fascination with Mormon fundamentalist polygamy.

It is my contention that public discourse on the subject reflects widespread anxieties about youth, sexuality, and the religious other. In saying this I in no way intend to dismiss the severity of violence and injustice that can be done to women and girls in these communities. Rather, I am arguing that public fascination with these issues reflects deeper structural problems within American culture than can be contained by one small religious sect. In this way, my approach is informed by James Kincaid's work on the American obsession with the powerful narrative of child molestation.

In a social and political climate where gay marriage has put marriage reform at the center of public discourse, where global politics support vilification and exoticization of the religious other, and where rhetoric of protection of childhood innocence undercuts reasoned discourse, discussion to Mormon fundamentalism is not a fringe phenomenon, but an indicator of key American cultural values.

My research project analyzes these American anxieties that hinge on sex, gender, age, and religion, as they emerge in the contemporary public discourse around fundamentalist Mormon women and girls. The three major sites for my research are: (1) news media reports on Mormon polygamy and child abuse scandals, especially newspapers, (2) fictional accounts ie. the HBO drama Big Love, and (3) polygamous Mormon women's own self-representations ie. the Principle Voices website.