Why would anyone join a polygamous group?

I was just reading a book on people in polygamous groups. Any way its about a girl who is forced to become a teenage bride, to her first cousin! In the beginning the author writes about how her fathers first, wife( of the three had had ( at the same time(plural wives, holy crap) - the second being her birth mom- she willingly choose to join a polygamous group after knowing that as a women she would be considerd a lesser being and would have to marry who ever the priest chose for her, and have to share her husband, (boyfriend at the time)with other women and have to deal with other hardships. All in the name of a religion that was filled with lies. For example they thought the world would end in the year 2000, and god would pull them from the destruction, and kill all those who were 'wicked', and when it didnt happen the priest made up some bogus lie about how god gave them more time. They also think that when a women goes from one husband to another the dna of her children changes to match those of her new husband. I am just curious as to why some one would by into that and still decide out of free will to join?

Btw: the book is called stolen innocence,by elissa wall and if the writer is on the site I would really like to have some questions answered.

Thank you

sounds like a cool book !
imma check it out !
how did yu find out about it ?.
and hmm whoever joins that religion .
is cuckoo !

I was at wal mart and I picked it at random.

There are several things at work here. First, many of those who are susceptible to cults are in a vulnerable mental state, whether through recent trauma, depression, crisis, what have you, and are therefore easily swayed by those offering answers or peace of mind or hope. Second, those that are able to successfully start these groups are charismatic in the extreme. They are extremely convincing, extremely persuasive, and apply a lot of mental (and sometimes physical) pressure to bend those around them to their way of thinking. And thirdly, once a polygamist group is started, it usually sustains itself from within by breeding new members. For those children who are born and grow up within the group, they quite literally know no other way of life and may think that marrying one's cousins is perfectly normal.

you are assuming that people have the same principals as you do.

with your principals, it doesn't sound like you would ever consider joining one. however, with a different set of principals, that decision could easily sway the other way.

I'm not saying I would join one, I'm just merely saying it is extremely hard to get into the mindset of an individual if you do not fully understand every aspect of their beliefs.