Carolyn Jessop fears for her life and the survival of her eight children. "Ugly realities" highlight her first-person account of a life inside a religious cult known as the Fundamentalist of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS).
- Members believe polygamy is a requirement for salvation
- Sex is power in the FLDS
- Sex is scheduled among wives
- A woman without children has no power or status
- Women are supposed to be in complete harmony with her husband
- Wives can discipline another woman's child
- Wives are extremely competitive with one another
- Women in the FLDS give birth in the local clinic
- Women are expected to be perfectly silent during childbirth
- Other wives are expected to be present during other wives' childbirths
- July 24, Pioneer Day, is the FLDS's biggest Mormon holiday
- The Harvest Festival is the FLDS version of a county fair
- Birthdays are rarely celebrated
- Working wives hand over their entire salary to their husbands
- Many members receive government benefits
- Members believe the second death happens in the afterlife when a spirit is killed off for the rest of eternity
- In the FLDS, refusing to have siex with one's husband is considered to be adultery
- It is a sin for a woman to talk about abuse, if she is being abused, it is because she is not in harmony with her husband
- Members are taught to fear the outside world
- Men are not allowed to interfere in another man's family
- Childhood immunizations are not allowed
- Water is considered to be the devils's doman
List compiled by Karla Mass with notes taken from book "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer.
