A Real Sister Wife Speaks Out: Why I Chose Polygamy

For men, they help each other with bringing food and money home. As said “Polygyny is not so much about sex as it is about hoarding the productive and reproductive labor” (2006, p. 3). It is about decreasing the jurisdiction of a man or woman. The possible negative outcomes I see in polygamy is the possibilities of men and women feeling the need to be in competition of being the favorite wife or husband, and the fact of sharing partners. As stated in the videos and the article about polygamy, I agree with the benefits of polygamy as the positive outcomes. Having more than one wife or husband reduces the work or obligations needed to be provided at home. Though they are many positive factors of polygamy, I personally do not agree with the term. If I were married, I would not like to share my

Preference, superiority, selection and devotion keep monogamous marriage a social institution. Clearly, marriage degenerates when these characteristic traits are not present. In order to have a true monogamous marriage, a man would have to mark the woman he married as superior. However, this cannot be implicitly true. It is evident that some people should not be parents, and should not raise children so there are clearly some flaws in this relationship among society in these social institutions.

The lifestyle of a polygamist is something not every person will agree on. It goes against social customs in many beliefs. A polygamist is looked down upon in American civilization because it goes against most religions. Although, polygamy has been useful for Elizabeth Joseph as she explains her story. Elizabeth Joseph, the author of “My Husband’s Nine Wives,” can relate to such a life because she is part of a polygamy marriage. However, Joseph enjoys her way of marriage, saying it is helpful to her career, mothering duties, and being a wife. On the other hand, one could imagine the jealousy that go through each wife for attention.

Polygamy continues to be frowned upon greatly in the United States despite the recent steps toward legalizing different marriage arrangements and polygamy’s attempt to go mainstream with television shows that give the outside world an inside view of their lifestyle. In Tibet, however, polyandry (a form of polygamy) has been a part of the culture for as long as anyone can remember and does not seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. In the article, “When Brothers Share a Wife” by Melvyn C. Goldstein, polyandry is explored in all aspects, including age, dynamics, and purpose.

Browne (2008) tells us that whilst Marriage is the usual type of relationship between Men and Women, Marriages where it’s the first time for both partners, is on a high scale decline, numbers have at least halved since 1970. This means that there are now more Reconstituted Families (families where at least one spouse will have children from a previous relationship), also knows as Step-Families. This is the fastest growing family type as now nearly half of Marriages involve a second marriage for at least one of the partners, reflecting an increase in Divorce Rates.

In Dena Hassouneh-Phillips’ article, “Polygamy and Wife Abuse: A Qualitative Study of Muslim Women in America,” she notes a report from a second wife who felt insignificant in her polygamous marriage due to the lack of attention

    The essay “Stone Soup” highlights many topics related to the common “issue” of families who are binuclear. Throughout the years, divorce has become a recurring event in couple’s marriages. In the essay, Kingslover writes, “.. a culture in which serial monogamy and the consequent reshaping is families are the norm— gets diagnosed as ‘failing’.” By saying this, the author basically expresses her disapproval of our society's views of “broken” families.  People too often judge what they see on the outside, and do not pay enough attention to what truly occurs in the lives of these families. Being a complete family—a father, mother, and children— is what defines normalcy to society, but how often does this work? The author of “Stone Soup” wrote, “To judge a family’s value by its tidy symmetry is to purchase a book for its cover.” To rephrase it simply, just as it is unfair to judge a book by its cover, it is evenly unfair to determine a family's successfulness by simply looking at how together or not together they present themselves. The idea of the nuclear family is not necessarily the ultimate way to achieve happiness, and throughout “Stone Soup,” the author intends on explaining that to us. A family containing step siblings, step parents, half-brothers and half-sisters, and multiple grandparents, could possibly be the happiest family, or maybe even the unhappiest, but it is not us who determines that. Nor is it the standard society has set for

The blog post, http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/sltrib/blogspolygblog/52643648-191/book-family-joe-darger.html.csp, is not as credible, just because it is written as a blog. However, this blog post gives readers context on some of the polygamist that the original article by Carlisle cites. The article is also outdated.

underpins marriage in many Western and some non-Western countries.” Scholars have continued to argue the success of monogamous relationships. Harville Hendrix (1990) explains that monogamy is a healing practice. Partners in monogamous relationships go through many stages and struggles as a committed couple. Through struggle, partners act as healers that help to work through each other’s suffering (Hendrix 1990). Hendrix (1990) believes individuals choose their partners to work through the pain together and help them grow through life. Monogamous marriage is a spiritual path to happiness and commitment between two individuals (Hendrix 1990). A committed relationship requires monogamy, and Hendrix (1990) contends that healthy and spiritual commitments encourage the sustainability of monogamous relationships. Although Hendrix (1990) contends that monogamy is an effective practice, research has largely built a case around the consequences of monogamous relationships.

It is stated that a woman can have one husband, but a man can have four wives. If a woman stays at home all day cooking, cleaning, and pleasing ONE wife should be more than satisfactory for a man. The Lottery may not contain any polygamists, but the man is set on a pedestal. He has the right to choose his family’s outcome. When the men draw from the box, they are deciding the families fate. If a man chooses another wife, he is deciding the life of polygamy for the rest of his family. The woman has no choice of whether or not she wants to share her husband with another woman for the rest of her

Is someone's religion a cult just because you find it odd, or sinister? The small polygamous community of Bountiful would argue that it does not; however many see polygamy as a dangerous and vile practice, and therefore, basing a lifestyle around it would be cultish behaviour.To determine if Bountiful is a dangerous cult or a peaceful haven for an outdated lifestyle, one must look at it’s dark past under the leadership of Warren Jeffs, how and why Winston Blackmore split from the sect, and how they have apparently changed to respect modern culture.

Within the polygamist communities, which are primarily focused on the Utah-Arizona border, and in Bountiful, Canada, there is much already known about polygamy and the women within the confines of polygamy, according to my extensive research in the last few months of 2017.

As a result of divorce or death, many individuals in monogamous societies will be in a series of monogamous marriages over the course

As Anthropologist Kimber McKay challenged the world’s outlook on what we believe to be a traditional, normal marriage, I was intrigued by the results of her fieldwork that displayed the different types of marriages occurring around the world. In her research in the Nepalese Himalaya, she lived within the community of polyandrous people participating in their daily life. In Humla, it was common for a polyandrous woman to marry a man and his brothers. McKay shared a video from a polyandrous woman that described the relationship she had with her two husbands. Here are her words: “If the husbands agree with it (polyandry) then it’s good. One can take care of the local work and the other can do outside work.” I hypothesize the reason polyandry

Polygamy is the practice of having more than one spouse and is culturally accepted in many parts of the world, but is illegal in the United States. There are two well known forms of polygamy, both of which are still presently practiced in numerous cultures globally, polygyny and polyandry. These practices take place in societies where it is important to have either more men or more women in a families’ household based on the kind of environment they reside in. This paper is going to take a look at who practices polygamy, the history of polygamy in the United States, and how this kind of polygamous lifestyle affects the children that are the products of these family structures.