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Polygamy In Canada

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Ideally, the umbrella term polygamy, that encompasses polyandry, polygyny, and bigamy, is the practice or custom of having more than one wife or husband at the same time. In Canada, Section 293 of the Criminal Code prohibits polygamous relationships. However, for a considerably long time, the law banning polygamy has not been efficient and believed to be unacceptable primarily, from the Bountiful sect living in British Columbia, Canada. Bountiful consists of members of two polygamist Mormon fundamentalist groups. It is home to Canada’s well-known polygamist, Winston Blackmore, who has an estimated 148 children, along with approximately twenty-four wives. For those who are in polygamous relationships, the three basic reasons for polygamy may …show more content…

Ultimately, “the impact of enforcement falls most heavily on women, who are barred at the border, abandoned in their home country or stuck in abusive relationships in Canada for fear of being found out and deported” (Burton, 2018). Women also tend to be stuck in abusive or unwanted relationships for the sake of their children; women understand and acknowledge how their separation can emotionally affect their children. Furthermore, polygyny - a branch of polygamy, also tends to disadvantage the offspring. Then again, “children in polygamous families share in the genes of an alpha male and stand to benefit from his protection, resources, influence, outlook, and expertise” (Burton, 2018). On the contrary, “their mothers are younger and less educated, and they receive a divided share of their father’s attention, which may be directed at his latest wife, or at amassing resources for his next one” (Burton, 2018). They are also at greater risk of violence from their kin group, particularly the extended family. Consequently, polygamy should not be legalised in Canada as children can be emotionally affected …show more content…

According to a 2012 study, monogamy has a crucial advantage over polygyny: “the more egalitarian distribution of women, which reduces male competition and social problems”. Not only does it reduce male competition and social problems between individuals, but monogamous marriage also “results in significant improvements in child welfare, including lower rates of neglect, abuse, accidental death, homicide and intra-household conflict” (Friedersdorf, 2015). By shifting male efforts from seeking wives to paternal investment, systematised monogamy increases long-term planning, economic productivity, savings and child investment. Nonetheless, when a high-status man takes two wives, a lower-status man gets no wife. If the high-status man takes three wives, two lower-status men get no wives. This “competitive, zero-dynamic sets off a competition among high-status men in who’s going to get the most wives” (Friedersdorf, 2015), which leaves lower-status men out in the cold. Those men, denied access to life’s most stabilising and civilising institution, are fairly disadvantaged and often turn to behaviours like crime and violence. Thus, polygamy should not be legalised as it creates tension and competition between

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