After reading all the negative effects of polygamy people wonder why polygamy still exists and the answer is simple, fear. Fear holds polygamy together like glue. In the article, “Polygamy Is Harmful to Children’s Development” by Pete Vere, Rene insinuates how leaving a polygamist lifestyle instills fear in teenagers, “Most believe they’re condemned to hell. Many will end up alcoholics, drug addicts, strippers, prostitutes, and prisoners” (qtd. in 1). For this reason, teenagers are too scared to leave polygamy, they do not want to be condemned to hell, or end up unsuccessful, which is exactly what polygamist leaders tell them will happen. Hearing these things everyday destroys both girls and boys self-worth. Consequently they belittle themselves and do not strive to become someone great. In the article “Secrets of Polygamy Revealed” Irene Spencer claims that, people are brainwashed into thinking polygamy is a must, she says, “From a fourth generation polygamous family, it had been drilled into the young girl that plural marriage was required to enter heaven” (1). For some people, grasping the concept of polygamy may be difficult, but for the people who have grown up …show more content…
Leaving polygamy is like trying to leave a gang, “Wives are threatened with mental institutions if they fail to ‘keep sweet’ or obedient for their husbands” (Chon and Kelly 1). One of the things that makes America great is freedom, allowing polygamy America is taking away this freedom, because people do not choose it they are forced into it. They are forced into it and unable to do anything about it because they are fearful of what may happen if they do. Polygamist households run on fear, “He ruled his house with fear. I remember how deathly afraid I was whenever he came home from work” (Mackert 1). When people are fearful towards someone they do not question anything they say. Instead they just do as they are
This is ironic because the anti-polygamists believed in the Bible, but not polygamy, one of its teachings. Many of God’s righteous followers in the Old Testament practiced polygamy. Abraham married Hagar, Sarai’s handmaiden (Genesis 16:1-3). Jacob was married to Leah, Rachel, Billah, and Zilpha, all at the same time.
I find the statement people are silent out of fear to be true. I try to avoided conversations that could offend someone or could be misinterpret. It reminds of a conversation with a friend one time. We were watching the movie “Lion King” when he jokingly compared me to the laughing Hyena. I jokingly compared him to voodoo witchdoctor which happens to be a monkey. To my surprise, he asked, “Did you pick the monkey because I was Black?” I was so embarrassed and ashamed when I hurt his feelings, I never thought of it as a racial comparison. Although we laughed it off, it still bothered me that I hurt his feelings.
The article Breaking the Cycle Mother, Daughter Find It Can Be Difficult to Leave Polygamy behind Polygamy: It 's Tough to Break the Cycle by Joan O 'Brien is about a mother’s experience leaving a polygamous marriage. This mother, Betsy Barlow of Salt Lake City also inspired her daughter, Ellen to do the same thing. It is explained that Mrs. Barlow felt that being a part of a polygamous marriage was defeating for women and herself. O’Brien states, “Barlow believes that in practice, polygamy ``suppresses ' ' women”. Most women would drop out of High school to raise children for the one husband and Mrs. Barlow was taught that this was the only way to reach the celestial kingdom. Her parents taught her this and she openly admits to teaching her
Beall, L. (2005). The Impact of Modern-Day Polygamy on Women and Children. Journal of International Cultic Studies, 2 (1), 2-8.
Sex at Dawn, written by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethȧ, is a non-fiction writing about the evolution of relationships from polygamy to monogamy. According to the authors, polygamy is leading to divorces, and a change in behaviors of males and females, both humans and primates. Different cultures see that one should have intercourse with multiple men before marriage and others do not believe in such customs. Some cultures commit infanticide when a bodacious female is born in the family because the family prefers to have a male around, as males bring home the necessities to survive, while females generally do not. Another topic in the writing is the change from living in a community to living in a nuclear family. Finally, in some norms it is common for children to be unaware of who his or her parents are and to have multiple family members or strangers take care of the children. There are many customs in the world that some see as strange, but it is normal for the people who grew up around these particular traditions. While reading this book, some of my views have changed on some topics.
In Western culture, there have been attempts to establish polygamist groups, primarily based upon differing religious viewpoints; however, most of these have not been able to withstand the pressure applied by the religious and cultural majority. If one wants to live and prosper in a given society, it is not advantageous to swim too hard against the current.
Beside the social stigmatism to polygamy, monogamy has many benefits for the human race. Although some may argue, as humans, we aren’t exactly designed to be a perfectly monogamist species, it my personal opinion that we have the adept skills to make monogamy work and be a valuable way of life. Of the about 4,000 mammal species on Earth, only a few dozen form lifelong monogamous pair bonds (Jeffries). That equates to approximately 3% of all mammals participating in monogamous activities. Professor Roger Rubin reports in his paper “Alternative Family Lifestyles Revisited …Communes”?, family...
Fletcher-Stack, Peggy. “Polygamy: Not as Rare as You May Think.” Beliefnet. Beliefnet, Inc., 2011. Web. 19 Dec. 2011. .
Polygamy is considered illegal in the United States, which would make it a deviant practice. That fact is on the bottom burner for me when considering this situation. Forcing someone to theoretically spend the rest of their life with someone not of their choosing is definitely out of the norm in my opinion. On to...
Many people would happily accept an opportunity to have their daily stress reduced by employing help with not only their children but also with daily household responsibilities of cooking and cleaning. Especially in this fragile economic state the average family living in America cannot afford the luxury of hiring a house cleaner, cook or nanny. However, there are polygamists families in America have the abilities of multiple adults contributing to the same household because of the lifestyle choice of having multiple spouses. The extra help comes at a price for woman, by having to share her husband with other woman and raising her children in the difficult and uncommon lifestyle. Polygamy takes a total acceptance and understanding of it by the mothers, in order for polygamy not to have a negative psychological impact on her children. Children are the innocent victims of polygamy; consequently, they grow up witnessing a tense environment filled with their mother’s insecurities and rivalries with the other wives, which sequentially end up harming the child in the end. Furthermore, polygamy can be psychologically damaging to children because of the increased rates of not only welfare fraud, domestic violence, and underage marriages but also child abuse and neglect.
No matter what there will still be polygamy relationships it just depends if they will continue to stay in these unrecognized marriage. Since unconventional views have already started to be challenged by marriage equality groups why wouldn’t they continue to challenge the view of just one spouse?
The Western Religious leaders and moralists believe only one spouse for life is the highest form of marriage. Some of the most "primitive" peoples are strictly monogamous in their ideals, while some "highly advanced" cultures have moved away from the stri...
3. In other countries, a reason why people engage in polygamous relationships involve the increase of children for labor. Another indicator is dealing with the overpopulation of women and maintaining control over them. It is also mainly in societies that consist of men with intense sexual desires and “lengthy post-partum sexual taboos” (Religious Tolerance, 2001).
In today’s world many people have had different views and ideas on what polygamy really is, is it morally wrong? In this paper you are going to learn what polygamy is, who practices it, the affects that it has on children, wives and the husbands, risk factors, and most importantly why it is morally wrong.
In today’s society the assumption asserts that there must be only two adults integrated in a relationship, however in polygamous environments, having more than one spouse is traditional. Some may argue that Polygamy is simply just an alternate lifestyle. This, however, ceases to be true. Young girls are being forced to marry older men and sometimes relatives. Little boys are often abandoned because it appears to be competition for older men. Children are victims of sexual and physical abuse. Whereas, for women, they generally become stripped of their money and experience competition against the multiple wives a husband. Although Polygamy is viewed as immoral by society, the main focus point should be saving young children and women because