Flirty Fishing in the Children of God: The Sexual Body as a Site of Proselytization and Salvation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17192/mjr.2007.12.3608Abstract
The Children of God [now called The Family] emerged as an apocalyptic new religious movement in the late 1960s. By the late 1970s, the group had engendered a great deal of academic and popular debate due to, among other things, its controversial sexual practices. In this article, I examine one such practice, namely, Flirty Fishing, in which many women in the group used their sexuality in combination with scriptural discussions as a method of proselytization. Utilizing social theories of the body, I explore the ways that many of the women may have adopted strategies that helped them to perceive their bodies and their behaviours in ways that did not threaten their senses of self. I consider both how women were able to endure the physical and emotional aspects of Flirty Fishing, and how they contextualized their behaviour in terms of the group’s general dynamics and belief system. Thus, I explore not only the organizational imposition of certain modes of behaviour on the body, but also individual perceptions of, responses to, and negotiations of them. Importantly, this article applies a theoretical approach to the study of new religious movements that few scholars thus far have explored.
References
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● Berg, David. (1972). ‘One Wife.’ Mo Letter No. 249 (October 28). Reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp.1367-1371.
● ---------. (1973). ‘Revolutionary Women.’ Mo Letter No. 250 (June 20). Reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp.1915-1930.
● ---------. (1974a). ‘The Flirty Little Fishy.’ Mo Letter No. 293 (January 3). Reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp. 527-534.
● ---------. (1974b). ‘Rape!’ Mo Letter No. 528 (April 24). Reprinted in Berg, 1978b, pp.3821- 3827.
● ---------. (1975). ‘Real Mothers!’ Mo Letter No. 389 (November 18). Reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp. 3521-3532.
● ---------. (1976a). ‘Afflictions.’ Mo Letter No. 569 (November 25). Reprinted in Berg 1978b.
● ---------. (1976b). ‘God’s Whores.’ Mo Letter No. 560 (April 26). Reprinted in Berg, 1978b, pp. 4130-4135.
● ----------. (1976c). The Basic Mo Letters. Geneva: Children of God.
● ---------. (1976d). ‘The Little Girl Dream.’ Mo Letter No. 1230 (October 28). Reprinted in Berg, 1982b, pp. 390-397.
● ---------. (1977). ‘’78 Here We Come!’ Mo Letter No. 658 (December 31).
● ---------. (1978a). ‘Make It Pay!’ Mo Letter No. 684 (March 13). Reprinted in Berg, 1979b, pp.5228-5231.
● ---------. (1978b). The Mo Letters Volume IV (The ‘FF’ Volume!). Hong Kong: Golden Lion Publishers.
● ---------. (1979a). ‘My Little Fish!’ In The Story of Davidito. (1982). pp. 443-448. Hong Kong: Golden Lion Publishers.
● ---------. (1980). ‘The Devil Hates Sex!’ Mo Letter No. 999 (May 20). Reprinted in Berg, 1981, pp. 7694-7708.
● ---------. (1981). ‘April-May-June ’81 FFing Stats.’ Family News International No. 41. Zurich: World Services.
● ---------. (1982). ‘Make an FF-Dress!’ Family News International No. 48. Zurich: World Services.
● ---------. (1983). ‘Fishers of Women.’ Family News Special Reference Mag 59. Zurich: World Services.
● ---------. (1987). Heaven’s Girl. Zurich: World Services.
● Bourdieu, P. (1997). Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
● Chancellor, James D. (2000). Life in The Family: An Oral History of the Children of God. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
● Chidester, David. (1988). Salvation and Suicide: An Interpretation of Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple and Jonestown. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
● Coakley, Sarah. (1997). ‘Introduction: Religion and the Body.’ In Coakley, Sarah. Ed. Religion and the Body. pp.1-12. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
● Csordas, Thomas J. Ed. (1994). Embodiment and Experience: The Existential Ground of Culture and Self. 2003 Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
● Davis, Deborah with Davis, Bill. (1984). The Children of God: The Inside Story. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House.
● Eisler, Riane. (1996). Sacred Pleasure: Sex, Myth, and the Politics of the Body. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.
● Featherstone, M.; Hepworth, M.; and Turner, B. S. Eds. (1991). The Body: Social Process and Cultural Theory. London: Sage.
● Feher, Michel; Naddaff, Ramona; and Tazi, Nadia. Eds. (1989). Fragments for a History of the Human Body Vol. One. New York: Zone.
● Feher, Michel; Naddaff, Ramona; and Tazi, Nadia. Eds. (1989). Fragments for a History of the Human Body Vol. Two. New York: Zone.
● Feher, Michel; Naddaff, Ramona; and Tazi, Nadia. Eds. (1989). Fragments for a History of the Human Body Vol. Three. New York: Zone.
● Foucault, Michel. (1977). Discipline and Punish. Translated by Alan Sheridan. Second Edition 1995. New York: Vintage Books.
● Kaelber, Lutz. (1998). Schools of Asceticism: Ideology and Organization in Medieval Religious Communities. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University
Press.
● Kent, Stephen A. (1994a). ‘Misattribution and Social Control in the Children of God.’ Journal of Religion and Health (33)1: 29-42.
● ---------. (1994b). ‘A Lustful Prophet: A Psychosexual History of the Children of God’s Leader, David Berg.’ Cultic Studies Journal. 11(2): 135-188.
● ---------. (2001). From Slogans to Mantras: Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam War Era. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
● Lalich, Janja. (1997). ‘Dominance and Submission: The Psychosexual Exploitation of Women in Cults.’ Cultic Studies Journal. 14(1): 4-21.
● Law, Jane Marie Law. Ed. (1995). Religious Reflections on the Human Body. Bloomingdale and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
● Leder, Drew. (1990). The Absent Body. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
● Liberty, Beth. (1982). ‘Escorting Without Agencies!’ Family News International No. 48. Zurich: World Services.
● Lyon, M. L. and Barbalet, J. M. (1994). ‘Society’s Body: Emotion and the ‘Somatization’ of Social Theory.’ In Thomas Csordas Ed. Embodiment and Experience: The
Existential Ground of Culture and Self. 2003 Edition. pp. 48-66. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
● McGuire, Meredith B. (1990). ‘Religion and the Body: Rematerializing the Human Body in the Social Sciences of Religion.’ Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 29(3): 283-297.
● Melton, Gordon. (1994). ‘Sexuality and the Maturation of the Family.’ In James R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton Eds. Sex, Slander, and Salvation. pp. 71-96. Stanford Ca:
Centre for Academic Publication.
● Melton, J. Gordon. (2004). The Children of God: The Family. Signature Books in cooperation with CESNUR.
● Monthly FFing Report. (no date). Archived at the Stephen A. Kent Collection on Alternative Religions. University of Alberta.
● O’Neill, John. (2004). Five Bodies: Reconfiguring Relationships. London: Sage Publications.
● Palmer, Susan. (1994a). Moon Sisters, Krishna Mothers, Rajneesh Lovers: Women’s Roles in New Religions. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
● ---------. (1994b). ‘Heaven’s Children: The Children of God’s Second Generation.’ In James
R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton Eds. Sex, Slander, and Salvation. pp. 1-26. Stanford Ca: Centre for Academic Publication.
● Paul & Tirzah (1983). ‘Support Miracles and ESing.’ Family News Special Reference Mag 65. Zurich: World Services.
● Puttick, Elizabeth. (1997). Women in New Religions: In Search of Community, Sexuality and Spiritual Power. New York: Saint Martin’s Press.
● Radley, Alan. (1996). ‘Displays and Fragments: Embodiment and the Configuration of Social Worlds.’ Theory and Psychology. 6(4): 559-576.
● Radley, A. (1991). The Body and Social Psychology. Springer-Verlag, New York.
● Raine, Susan. (2005). ‘Reconceptualizing the Human Body: Heaven's Gate and the Quest
for Divine Transformation.’ Religion. (35): 98-117.
● Raine, Susan. (2006). “The Children of God/The Family: A Discussion of Recent Research (1998-2005).” Cultic Studies Review. 5(1): 29-72.
● Ranke-Heinemann, Uta. (1990). Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven. New York, New York: Doubleday.
● Richardson, John and Shaw, Alison. (1998). ‘Introduction.’ In Richardson and Shaw Eds. The Body in Qualitative Research. pp. 1-6. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
● Simpson, John H. (1993). ‘Religion and the Body: Sociological Themes and Prospects.’
In William H. Swatos Jr. Ed. A Future for Religion? New Paradigms for Social Analysis. pp 149-164. Newbury Park Ca: Sage.
● Swatos, William H. Jr. Ed. (1993). A Future for Religion? New Paradigms for Social Analysis. Newbury Park Ca: Sage.
● Synott, Anthony. (1993). The Body Social: Symbolism, Self and Society. London: Routledge.
● Turner, Bryan S. (1997). The Body in Society: Explorations in Social Theory. 2nd edition. London: Sage.
● ---------. (1991). ‘Recent Developments in the Theory of Body.’ In Mike Featherstone, Mike
Hepworth and Bryan S. Turner Eds. The Body: Social Process and Cultural Theory. pp. 1-35. London: Sage Publications.
● Van Zandt, David E. (1991). Living in the Children of God. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
● Von Thaden, Robert H. (2003). ‘Glorify God in Your Body: The Redemptive Role of the Body in Early Christian Ascetic Literature.’ Cistercian Studies Quarterly. (38)2:191-209.
● Walker Bynum, Caroline. (1992). Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion. New York: Zone Books.
● Wallis, Roy (1978). ‘Fishing for Men.’ The Humanist. (Jan-Feb): 14-16.
● Wallis, Roy. (1981). ‘Yesterday’s Children: Cultural and Structural Change in a New Religious Movement.’ In Bryan Wilson Ed. The Social Impact of New Religious
Movements. pp. 97-133. New York: Rose of Sharon Press.
● ---------. (1983). ‘Sex, Violence, and Religion.’ Update. 7(4): 3-11.
● Welton, Donn. Ed. (1998). Body and Flesh: A Philosophical Reader. 2001 Reprint. Malden, Ma: Blackwell Publishers.
● Wiesner-Hanks, Merry, E. (2000). Christianity and Sexuality in the Early Modern World: Regulating Desire, Reforming Practice. London, UK: Routledge.
● Williams, Miriam. (1998). Heaven’s Harlots: My Fifteen Years in a Sex Cult. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc.
● Williams Boeri, Miriam. (2005). The Children of God. In Christel Manning and Phil Zuckerman (Eds.). Sex & Religion. 160-180. Belmont Ca: Wadsworth. pp. 160-180.
● Berg, David. (1972). ‘One Wife.’ Mo Letter No. 249 (October 28). Reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp.1367-1371.
● ---------. (1973). ‘Revolutionary Women.’ Mo Letter No. 250 (June 20). Reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp.1915-1930.
● ---------. (1974a). ‘The Flirty Little Fishy.’ Mo Letter No. 293 (January 3). Reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp. 527-534.
● ---------. (1974b). ‘Rape!’ Mo Letter No. 528 (April 24). Reprinted in Berg, 1978b, pp.3821- 3827.
● ---------. (1975). ‘Real Mothers!’ Mo Letter No. 389 (November 18). Reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp. 3521-3532.
● ---------. (1976a). ‘Afflictions.’ Mo Letter No. 569 (November 25). Reprinted in Berg 1978b.
● ---------. (1976b). ‘God’s Whores.’ Mo Letter No. 560 (April 26). Reprinted in Berg, 1978b, pp. 4130-4135.
● ----------. (1976c). The Basic Mo Letters. Geneva: Children of God.
● ---------. (1976d). ‘The Little Girl Dream.’ Mo Letter No. 1230 (October 28). Reprinted in Berg, 1982b, pp. 390-397.
● ---------. (1977). ‘’78 Here We Come!’ Mo Letter No. 658 (December 31).
● ---------. (1978a). ‘Make It Pay!’ Mo Letter No. 684 (March 13). Reprinted in Berg, 1979b, pp.5228-5231.
● ---------. (1978b). The Mo Letters Volume IV (The ‘FF’ Volume!). Hong Kong: Golden Lion Publishers.
● ---------. (1979a). ‘My Little Fish!’ In The Story of Davidito. (1982). pp. 443-448. Hong Kong: Golden Lion Publishers.
● ---------. (1980). ‘The Devil Hates Sex!’ Mo Letter No. 999 (May 20). Reprinted in Berg, 1981, pp. 7694-7708.
● ---------. (1981). ‘April-May-June ’81 FFing Stats.’ Family News International No. 41. Zurich: World Services.
● ---------. (1982). ‘Make an FF-Dress!’ Family News International No. 48. Zurich: World Services.
● ---------. (1983). ‘Fishers of Women.’ Family News Special Reference Mag 59. Zurich: World Services.
● ---------. (1987). Heaven’s Girl. Zurich: World Services.
● Bourdieu, P. (1997). Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
● Chancellor, James D. (2000). Life in The Family: An Oral History of the Children of God. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
● Chidester, David. (1988). Salvation and Suicide: An Interpretation of Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple and Jonestown. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
● Coakley, Sarah. (1997). ‘Introduction: Religion and the Body.’ In Coakley, Sarah. Ed. Religion and the Body. pp.1-12. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
● Csordas, Thomas J. Ed. (1994). Embodiment and Experience: The Existential Ground of Culture and Self. 2003 Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
● Davis, Deborah with Davis, Bill. (1984). The Children of God: The Inside Story. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House.
● Eisler, Riane. (1996). Sacred Pleasure: Sex, Myth, and the Politics of the Body. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.
● Featherstone, M.; Hepworth, M.; and Turner, B. S. Eds. (1991). The Body: Social Process and Cultural Theory. London: Sage.
● Feher, Michel; Naddaff, Ramona; and Tazi, Nadia. Eds. (1989). Fragments for a History of the Human Body Vol. One. New York: Zone.
● Feher, Michel; Naddaff, Ramona; and Tazi, Nadia. Eds. (1989). Fragments for a History of the Human Body Vol. Two. New York: Zone.
● Feher, Michel; Naddaff, Ramona; and Tazi, Nadia. Eds. (1989). Fragments for a History of the Human Body Vol. Three. New York: Zone.
● Foucault, Michel. (1977). Discipline and Punish. Translated by Alan Sheridan. Second Edition 1995. New York: Vintage Books.
● Kaelber, Lutz. (1998). Schools of Asceticism: Ideology and Organization in Medieval Religious Communities. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University
Press.
● Kent, Stephen A. (1994a). ‘Misattribution and Social Control in the Children of God.’ Journal of Religion and Health (33)1: 29-42.
● ---------. (1994b). ‘A Lustful Prophet: A Psychosexual History of the Children of God’s Leader, David Berg.’ Cultic Studies Journal. 11(2): 135-188.
● ---------. (2001). From Slogans to Mantras: Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam War Era. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
● Lalich, Janja. (1997). ‘Dominance and Submission: The Psychosexual Exploitation of Women in Cults.’ Cultic Studies Journal. 14(1): 4-21.
● Law, Jane Marie Law. Ed. (1995). Religious Reflections on the Human Body. Bloomingdale and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
● Leder, Drew. (1990). The Absent Body. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
● Liberty, Beth. (1982). ‘Escorting Without Agencies!’ Family News International No. 48. Zurich: World Services.
● Lyon, M. L. and Barbalet, J. M. (1994). ‘Society’s Body: Emotion and the ‘Somatization’ of Social Theory.’ In Thomas Csordas Ed. Embodiment and Experience: The
Existential Ground of Culture and Self. 2003 Edition. pp. 48-66. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
● McGuire, Meredith B. (1990). ‘Religion and the Body: Rematerializing the Human Body in the Social Sciences of Religion.’ Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 29(3): 283-297.
● Melton, Gordon. (1994). ‘Sexuality and the Maturation of the Family.’ In James R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton Eds. Sex, Slander, and Salvation. pp. 71-96. Stanford Ca:
Centre for Academic Publication.
● Melton, J. Gordon. (2004). The Children of God: The Family. Signature Books in cooperation with CESNUR.
● Monthly FFing Report. (no date). Archived at the Stephen A. Kent Collection on Alternative Religions. University of Alberta.
● O’Neill, John. (2004). Five Bodies: Reconfiguring Relationships. London: Sage Publications.
● Palmer, Susan. (1994a). Moon Sisters, Krishna Mothers, Rajneesh Lovers: Women’s Roles in New Religions. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
● ---------. (1994b). ‘Heaven’s Children: The Children of God’s Second Generation.’ In James
R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton Eds. Sex, Slander, and Salvation. pp. 1-26. Stanford Ca: Centre for Academic Publication.
● Paul & Tirzah (1983). ‘Support Miracles and ESing.’ Family News Special Reference Mag 65. Zurich: World Services.
● Puttick, Elizabeth. (1997). Women in New Religions: In Search of Community, Sexuality and Spiritual Power. New York: Saint Martin’s Press.
● Radley, Alan. (1996). ‘Displays and Fragments: Embodiment and the Configuration of Social Worlds.’ Theory and Psychology. 6(4): 559-576.
● Radley, A. (1991). The Body and Social Psychology. Springer-Verlag, New York.
● Raine, Susan. (2005). ‘Reconceptualizing the Human Body: Heaven's Gate and the Quest
for Divine Transformation.’ Religion. (35): 98-117.
● Raine, Susan. (2006). “The Children of God/The Family: A Discussion of Recent Research (1998-2005).” Cultic Studies Review. 5(1): 29-72.
● Ranke-Heinemann, Uta. (1990). Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven. New York, New York: Doubleday.
● Richardson, John and Shaw, Alison. (1998). ‘Introduction.’ In Richardson and Shaw Eds. The Body in Qualitative Research. pp. 1-6. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
● Simpson, John H. (1993). ‘Religion and the Body: Sociological Themes and Prospects.’
In William H. Swatos Jr. Ed. A Future for Religion? New Paradigms for Social Analysis. pp 149-164. Newbury Park Ca: Sage.
● Swatos, William H. Jr. Ed. (1993). A Future for Religion? New Paradigms for Social Analysis. Newbury Park Ca: Sage.
● Synott, Anthony. (1993). The Body Social: Symbolism, Self and Society. London: Routledge.
● Turner, Bryan S. (1997). The Body in Society: Explorations in Social Theory. 2nd edition. London: Sage.
● ---------. (1991). ‘Recent Developments in the Theory of Body.’ In Mike Featherstone, Mike
Hepworth and Bryan S. Turner Eds. The Body: Social Process and Cultural Theory. pp. 1-35. London: Sage Publications.
● Van Zandt, David E. (1991). Living in the Children of God. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
● Von Thaden, Robert H. (2003). ‘Glorify God in Your Body: The Redemptive Role of the Body in Early Christian Ascetic Literature.’ Cistercian Studies Quarterly. (38)2:191-209.
● Walker Bynum, Caroline. (1992). Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion. New York: Zone Books.
● Wallis, Roy (1978). ‘Fishing for Men.’ The Humanist. (Jan-Feb): 14-16.
● Wallis, Roy. (1981). ‘Yesterday’s Children: Cultural and Structural Change in a New Religious Movement.’ In Bryan Wilson Ed. The Social Impact of New Religious
Movements. pp. 97-133. New York: Rose of Sharon Press.
● ---------. (1983). ‘Sex, Violence, and Religion.’ Update. 7(4): 3-11.
● Welton, Donn. Ed. (1998). Body and Flesh: A Philosophical Reader. 2001 Reprint. Malden, Ma: Blackwell Publishers.
● Wiesner-Hanks, Merry, E. (2000). Christianity and Sexuality in the Early Modern World: Regulating Desire, Reforming Practice. London, UK: Routledge.
● Williams, Miriam. (1998). Heaven’s Harlots: My Fifteen Years in a Sex Cult. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc.
● Williams Boeri, Miriam. (2005). The Children of God. In Christel Manning and Phil Zuckerman (Eds.). Sex & Religion. 160-180. Belmont Ca: Wadsworth. pp. 160-180.
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2015-06-01
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Raine, S. (2015). Flirty Fishing in the Children of God: The Sexual Body as a Site of Proselytization and Salvation. Marburg Journal of Religion, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.17192/mjr.2007.12.3608
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