Bennion's exploration of how and why women are drawn to such communities is one of the more interesting facets of her book. The Mennonites are a closed culture — they aren't a group you can walk in and join. The Mormons, however, are always looking for new additions. Female additions, to be more specific. Young men are often "encouraged" to seek their fortunes elsewhere while women from more conservative Mormon communities in the United States are actively courted to move in. Nothing else should be expected in social groups where powerful males control the mating prospects of multiple females — we can see the exact same sort of social dynamic play out in many other mammal species.
The question is, why would any modern American woman choose to become the second, third, fourth, or fifth wife of a guy living in the Mexican desert? Why give up the possible luxuries and comfort of an American lifestyle to join a patriarchal community where rights and liberties are far less respected? As Bennion explains, male supremacy is not quite the same as female slavery.
In fact, women have their own power without which male supremacy wouldn’t exist. They are, in a sense, the power behind the throne and they know it. They do most of the day-to-day running of the households and they are deeply involved with social networks of other women in the community, without which the community simply wouldn't be able to function at all.
Taking into account the fact that the men don't spend more than a night or so in the household of any one wife and are often gone from the community for long stretches of time to earn money elsewhere (it's not easy financing multiple households and multiple wives), one has to wonder whether the men serve much purpose in the community at all. They almost seem superfluous at times, while the women are in charge of what goes on — and, at that point, the attraction of these desert patriarchies doesn't seem so strange anymore.
Janet Bennion's book is well suited to college classes on anthropology, gender studies, and religious studies, but I have read quite a few such books in my life and I can say that this one stands out in such a crowd. It's an easy and engaging read, providing a more intimate portrait of the lives of people than most scholarly studies.
Desert Patriarchy: Mormon and Mennonite Communities in the Chihuahua Valley
At times I felt myself sincerely wondering what happened next — did David LeBaron ever get a fourth wife? Did Katerina Neufeld ever go to the United States to marry or is she still in Mexico? This book will be mostly read by college students, but I think that it deserves a much wider audience. It's well written and about an fascinating topic that won't bore the average reader.
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