Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

JPZenger

(6,819 posts)
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 10:23 AM Oct 2012

Why binders of women was such a curious thing for a Mormon to say- binders used for extra wives

http://jezebel.com/5952656/why-binders-full-of-women-was-such-a-curious-thing-for-a-mormon-to-say

by Tracie Egan Morrissey

"Binders full of women" struck such a chord with the Internet after Mitt Romney said it during last night's debate, because it's just a really weird thing to say. It conjures up the mental image of a man sifting through the pages of a homemade catalog of females, as though he's lady-shopping. It's kind of creepy, and maybe you couldn't put your finger on exactly why. But maybe it's because before this, "binders full of women" already had some association with creepiness, and like Romney, with Mormonism.

Known as the "joy book," it's a register that the FLDS prophet allegedly keeps of girls who are eligible for marriage, most of whom are underage, and it serves as a dating pool for fundamentalist Mormon men looking to add more wives to their homes. While the "joy books" have been discussed by members of the faith that had fled their compounds before being married off to older men without their consent, they were most famously featured on an episode of Big Love, in which they're depicted, quite literally, as binders full of young women.

Obviously, while Romney is Mormon, he's not part of the FLDS sect, and he didn't mean to imply that his own "binders full of women" was at all sexual. But religious affiliation aside, it still means that, kind of like those FLDS men, Romney has trouble meeting women. It's really unsettling to think that he felt like he hadn't come across any females—in all of his 65 years—that was qualified enough to appoint to his cabinet, that he would even need those binders."

Here's a scene from Big Love showing the binder full of young women/girls:

17 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

genna

(1,945 posts)
1. Disturbing. I would have never tied that together.
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 10:47 AM
Oct 2012

If Mormons do this to young girls anywhere in the u.s., isn't this like kiddie peddling?

What business do adult men have to have a binder filled with pictures of underaged girls?

alsame

(7,784 posts)
3. This is why Warren Jeffs was charged with
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 11:17 AM
Oct 2012

sexual assault against minors (among other charges). He was facilitating 'marriages' between grown men and young girls.

 

fasttense

(17,301 posts)
5. Aside from the Mormon FLDS preference for underage girls
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 04:31 PM
Oct 2012

The whole thing is just very creepy. The way Mitt Romney said it. Instead of saying he had a listing of fully qualified women, he had to say binders of women. As if the women were inside the binders just waiting for some pervert to set them free.

It's just more objectifying of women by RepubliCONS.

And he lied and claimed it was his idea to get this binder full of women. I'll bet.

alsame

(7,784 posts)
6. IMO, the logical thing to say would be
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 07:00 PM
Oct 2012

binders of resumes or lists of qualified women. Aside from the lie about the request, the phrase was as weird as everything else about him.

Bernardo de La Paz

(49,002 posts)
7. It's the objectification of women. Romney sees them as a checklist item to keep Libs at bay...
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 09:07 PM
Oct 2012

... Got women? Yup. Ignore the vulture capitalist behind the curtain.

 

Hestia

(3,818 posts)
8. that was my first thought, especially after watching Big Love
Thu Oct 18, 2012, 11:12 PM
Oct 2012

Glad someone else made the connection.

FreeState

(10,572 posts)
9. I was raised LDS and didnt connect the two
Fri Oct 19, 2012, 02:25 PM
Oct 2012

its quite a stretch to be honest - Warren Jeffs is so far removed from the the mainstream church it would be like saying Joe Biden gets his ideas from Bill Donohue. The FLDS are a very small cult that nearly all LDS members have no knowledge of outside of that he is a polygamist.

Canuckistanian

(42,290 posts)
14. The mainstream LDS church doesn't exactly condemn them, either
Fri Oct 19, 2012, 09:33 PM
Oct 2012

With the resultant effect of the appearance of acceptance of the FLDS "lifestyle".

underthematrix

(5,811 posts)
17. Mittnocchio is a 65 year old man
Sun Oct 21, 2012, 06:28 PM
Oct 2012

who will turn 66 two months after he is sworn into office. He will be almost 70 years when he finishes his first term. To me, he seems like a severely conservative doddering old fool who has 10 working digits to sign Grover Norquist policies into law. It seems to me on the surface (because as Gloria Allred would attest you never know what peeps do behind closed doors) mittnocchio is guided by his cultist beliefs and what he is hiding is his extremism. I cannot imagine this nutjob in the White House.

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Editorials & Other Articles»Why binders of women was ...