Polygamy: Insight on the Practice of Polygamy

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Polygamy: Insight on the practice of Polygamy
Have you ever thought of having more than one wife or husband? Polygamy is the practice or custom of having more than one wife or husband simultaneously. The Greek word Poly means many and the Gamos which means marriage (Harper). Practicing Polygamy is something society looks down on and there are laws that make it illegal in the United States. There are two different forms of Polygamy: Polygyny and Polyandry (US Marriage). While Polygamy is illegal in some places, it remains tolerated in certain areas around the world. The ones who have gotten the most attention from the media are the FLDS. Those outside of the practice have a very limited, biased opinion on the interworkings of polygamy. It is important for the population to gain a deeper understanding of the practice, and to see why it is illegal and considered to be an immoral lifestyle.
The first version of polygamy is polygyny, in which a man has multiple wives at the same time. The general population would theorize that the men practice polygyny because they only desire multiple sex partners. There are other theories that there is a surplus of women and polygyny is utilized to balance the gender ratios (Schwimmer 1). Looking back at history, several people of power obtained multiple wives in Europe and Egypt. Polygyny is the most common form of Polygamy.
The second form of polygamy is the practice of polyandry. As opposed to polygyny, polyandry is the practice of a woman having one, or more, husbands at once. It is a much more rare form, and is concentrated in the Himalayan regions of South Asia. There are two forms of polyandry which consists of a woman married to her brothers, and where the husbands aren't related at...

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....ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/marriage/ polygyny.html>.
Schwimmer, Brian. Polyandry. University of Manitoba, Sept. 2013. Web. 5 May 2014. .
Szep, Jason. "Polygamist community faces rare genetic disorder." Reuters. 14 June 2007. Web. 27 May 2014. .
Weissert, Will, and Paul J. Weber. "Warren Jeffs: Polygamist Leader Had Nearly 80 Wives, 24 Under Age 17, His Meticulous Records Show." Huffington Post. 5 Aug. 2011. Web. 27 May 2014. .
"What do Mormons believe about polygamy?." Curiosity.com. Discovery, n.d. Web. 26 May 2014. .

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