Polygamy

01/09/2013

Polygamy

I have Netflix, and one of the upsides to having Netflix is that you get to watch T.V. shows when ever you want to watch them. Recently I was watching a show called Sister Wives. Sister Wives as you may know are two or more women who are married to the same man. While Polygamy is of course illegal because it is unlawful to have more than one wife; I find that kind of funny. The United States of America was formed on what some would call older religion. Particularly in the Mormon religion dating back to the 1830's. In fact Joseph Smith Jr. was a Polygamist. Polygamy isn't something new, it's actually a pretty old practice found through out several religions and cultures all over the world, even today. 

Just recently with in August of 2006 Warren Jeffs was caught. He was married to 80 different women, most of whom were under the age of 18 and had 250 children. Jeffs' was part of a break away Mormon religion, as most Mormon's you come across today would tell you that they do not believe in Polygamy. There are several different schools of thought when it comes to Warren Jeffs, but the most important thing to remember was that the children he had as "wives" didn't know of any other life style. They were told that if they were married to Warren and produced his children that they would be able to get into the highest level of heaven. It's still wrong to be married to a minor and to have sex with a minor. It's because of people like Jeffs' that other Polygamists can't live their lifestyle out in the open.

Before the show Sister Wives, I honestly thought that all Polygamists were 80 year old Mormon men who brain wash 13 year old girls into sleeping with them. Little did I know that most Polygamists aren't actually Mormon. They are part of a break away religion that broke away from the Mormon church. Most people today who are not part of the break away church would tell you that they don't agree with the idea of Polygamy. Another thing that I learned while watching the show is that all of the women were over the age of 18. In fact Kody was married to Meri legally way before the second wife was introduced to the family. Kody and Meri were married in 1990. It was Meri who suggested the idea of having another wife in the family. Kody then married Janelle three years after Meri. Next, was Christine who he married a year after Janelle. Now, keep in mind that the only person Kody is legally married to is Meri. He isn't actually married to any of the others. It wasn't until 16 years after Kody married Christine that he was married to Robyn. Combined to date they have 17 children.

The Brown family lived in Utah, and had to live a very low key life. Because Polygamy is illegal they lived in hiding for several years. The Brown's decided that they wanted to tell the world how they are living in the hopes that they could come out of hiding. Unfortunately it struck up an entire investigation mainly toward Kody Brown. In fear that he would be taken from the family and that the four wives would be split up, they moved. 

I personally don't find anything wrong with their lifestyle. During the show I learned that just because the family may have more than one wife doesn't mean the wives are being coned or raped. They love having more than one wife in the family. On several occasions through out the show each wife voiced several times that they love their lifestyle and that all their lives they wanted a huge family. Not only are all of the wives over the age of 18 and perfectly capable of making their own decisions, but they also treat each other equally. Having a sister wife is like having a best friend who just happens to be married to your husband as well. 

What most importantly hit home with me was that some of their older children expressed that they would not want to be in a Polygamist relationship. Kody and his wives not once told them that they were wrong for feeling that way. They simply teach their children that happiness is most important. If you would rather have a monogamous relationship there is nothing wrong with that. How is it that Polygamists can understand our lifestyle but we can't understand theirs? I think that as long as the wives are over 18 and willingly want to be in the relationship regardless of how many other wives there are, that they should be able to. That's how I feel about it and I think that just because I don't want to have a sister wife doesn't mean others don't want to. We shouldn't be so quick to scrutinize those who see things differently than we do.