W. Bradford Wilcox's Polygamy: Big Love

“A topic that I am personally fascinated with is polygamy. I watched a television series years ago called “Big Love” and became intrigued. The series displayed all aspects of polygamy, which included the struggles of having multiple wives. I found an article posted July 2015 on the New York Times website by W. Bradford Wilcox, and I completely agree with him. I think Wilcox provides great examples and points to why polygamy causes more damage than spreading more love. As much harmony and peace polygamist families try to promote, I feel that is more than likely not the case. I do not think sharing my husband and children with other women to secure my spot in Heaven would make for a very happy life here on Earth.

The particular article I read

Wilcox writes, “Children are more likely to flourish, and to become good citizens and workers, if they get high levels of attention, affection and financial support from their fathers in a stable, two-parent family” (Wilcox 2015). When a father has to split his time between wives, the children could end up only seeing their dad maybe once or twice a week. I know from personal experience that not spending time with your father creates tension in the family. My parents were not polygamist. They divorced when I was two and my dad was not involved in my life for almost 13 years. My son and husband have a great relationship. They have a friendship that goes beyond just a father and

My son knows that his father is his dad and in charge, but he also knows that his father will spend time and get to know him. It must be difficult for children of polygamist families to be out in public. The children could get confused when to call their father “Dad” for legal reasons. The first wife is usually the only wife that is legally married to the father. The other wives are all spiritually married to him but not legally on paper. The children sometimes cannot even acknowledge they have or know their father. It is not fair that the other wives appear to be a single mother or a nanny taking care of multiple children. All of these reasons validate Wilcox’s positon that “children in polygynous families do worse educationally and psychologically than their peers in monogamous families” (Wilcox 2015).

The final point Wilcox makes is polygamy could destroy liberal families. He writes, “Polygynous families, by contrast, tilt in a heavily patriarchal direction less conducive to liberal virtues like equality and independence” (Wilcox 2015). I am not a liberal, but I do agree that families should treat each other equally. A family that displays both parents having equal responsibilities translates to their children treating everyone with respect. A polygamist family is centered on the father as being the only one in control and dominant over his