Polygamy

PVC
I know you are very smart and hate to be a schtickler (who am I kidding, I love to schtickle), but doesn't your post require a link?
 

Our history of polygamy was the source of 'Male Children.' Males to function
as primogenitures, warriors to protect their family, tribe, society, region.
A girl child was useless and a disappointment: see Greek, Roman History.
Jewish History-a male child highly sought for perpetuate of the family's history and being. A male child was encumbered with the continuation of the family. China, Japan..

Vikings, virtually all civilizations of ancient times-male children were sought, valued, while female children were an addendum.

Sex, was a secondary activity to produce male's.
(Also, Hitler had his attempt to produce male children)

Wrong, right, ??? Our modern eyes say wrong, but we do not have invaders
at the gates. We have no walled cities in America-a product of a civilization
that does not fear their neighbors.

My opinion: polygamy is nonsensical, no longer needed, stupid; placing females in a secondary role as a separate people.

Double RR's post in on target.

( There is a site of Joseph Smith buying mummies and papyri, translating the papyri, at a time when no scholar could translate hieroglyphics: horse feathers
and nonsense.)
 

It is rare but I have heard of tribes in mountainous regions of Asia where it is/was? practised. Poor men are not likely to be able to afford a bride so the solution is for one woman to become the wife of several brothers.
Isn't it interesting how in some places the woman has to provide a "dowry" to attract a husband and in other places the man has to provide a ''bride price'' to get a wife? I guess it depends on which sex is the most plentiful in that part of the world.
 
About 50% of the population is male and about 50% of the population is female. So that brings up a problem with polygamy. If Mr. X has eight wives, then there are 7 males, who don't have a wife. In a polygamous community with multiple older males having multiple wives, there is an extreme shortage of marriageable females for young adult males.
Also, I think you have to define "polygamy". It can be more than having multiple spouses. It can be a male dominated, exploitation of females, akin to a cult. When people are denied basic human rights, it doesn't matter how many spouses one has. I think this is the aspect most object to when they hear the word, "ploygamy".
 
As a taxpayer, I don't like financially supporting the multiple families. The wives who are not legally married to the husband collect aid to dependent children checks, snap, medicaid, and HUD housing credits. If adults choose to live multiple partner lifestyles, why do we have to pay for it? They're setting up their lives to be on the public dole for their entire lives! What's fair about that?
 
When I was 14 I had a boyfriend who was LDS. He told me that he believed in polygamy and asked if I was okay with it. I said it was fine with me, not willing to admit that I didn't have a clue what polygamy was. He started seeing my best friend, so I dumped him. Only years later did I understand.
Considering how fast he was moving back then, I wonder how many wives he has now? ;) Muslims can only have four wives and an unlimited number of concubines. LDS can have any number of wives. The founder, Joseph Smith, had either 28 or 49 wives, the total number is disputed.
 
Considering how fast he was moving back then, I wonder how many wives he has now? ;) Muslims can only have four wives and an unlimited number of concubines. LDS can have any number of wives. The founder, Joseph Smith, had either 28 or 49 wives, the total number is disputed.

Brigham Young allegedly had 55 wives. Of course a good many of them were elderly widows who were just "courtesy" wives.

My grandmother's father is rumored to have taken off to be a Morman, never to be heard of again. I tried to find him in the Morman genealogy records, but he either changed his name or never made it out there.
 
Maybe I'm naive but why does one have to have a wife or more than one. In our present day people are able to live together without the formality of marriage or I suppose people can just shop around, banging whoever is handy and willing. The problem of polygamy would be eliminated with little effort. It's a thing of the past - -no need for it today.

I don't necessarily approve of it but it seems to be the "way of the world", at least here in the USA.
 
I'm against cults with multiple wives/husbands; but to each his own. However - when I was working full time and raising 4 children with 3 of them playing baseball and still had to do the cooking and cleaning, it would have seemed like a good idea. That way my husband and I could work and the other 'wife' could stay home and do the cooking, cleaning, busing boys to practice and games, make sure they did their homework, etc. It would have been cheaper than having a live-in maid. Not to mention that my husband had to work out of town a lot and I would be gone a week at a time during trade show season.
 
I'm against cults with multiple wives/husbands; but to each his own. However - when I was working full time and raising 4 children with 3 of them playing baseball and still had to do the cooking and cleaning, it would have seemed like a good idea. That way my husband and I could work and the other 'wife' could stay home and do the cooking, cleaning, busing boys to practice and games, make sure they did their homework, etc. It would have been cheaper than having a live-in maid. Not to mention that my husband had to work out of town a lot and I would be gone a week at a time during trade show season.
:ROFLMAO: I hear you.
When I was a young and struggling wife and mother I used to muse that I wouldn't mind if Hubby took a second wife, as long as I could be head wife.
 
According to Merriam Webster:

polygyny
the state or practice of having more than one wife
polyandry
the state or practice of having more than one husband or male mate at one time
polygamy
marriage in which a spouse of either sex may have more than one mate at the same time

So.... either gender can be polygamous. But if you’re a woman with more than one male mate you're polyandrous, and if you’re a man with more than one female mate you’re polygynous.

All of which begs the question, in this age of gender fluidity, bi-sexuality, polymorphous behavior etc, if these definitions wil ultimately become antiquated.
 
I didn't want to hijack the thread about the Mormons in Mexico, but I have wondered about this for a long time. Why is polygamy so hated by many in the western world? After all, it exists in the Bible, and has continuously existed throughout human history. If people choose that lifestyle, who is it harming? And why the intense feeling against it?

The TV series Big Love explored this subject in a very interesting way. Did anyone else watch it?
Muslims permitted (not necessarily encouraged) polygamous marriages because in ancient times, many Muslim men were lost to war leaving too many widows with children. A Muslim man is not obligated to support any woman who is not his wife so the men took on more than one wife. The ruling was no more than 4 wives and they couldn't be related (sisters, children of the wife(wives), aunts, etc. The women had to be of sound mind and able to make decisions for themselves, were not to be coerced or forced into marriage. The marriages had to be witnessed and made public...not done in secret.
My second marriage was a polygamous one. After my first traditional marriage (when I was Christian), which lasted only 3 months, I knew that "traditional" marriage was not for me. I used to say I'd never marry again....ever. But my 2nd was one of the nicest people you could meet, the handsomest man I'd ever seen and I finally fell for him. A good mutual friend had tried to get us together for years but I said I wasn't interested because I knew he had a wife. We wound up getting together in our own time on our own terms due to some unforeseen circumstances (one with a paranormal element). I held off for three years before finally marrying him. I knew the stigma attached and didn't know anyone else (at the time) in that situation. I met some people in Virginia who were in polygamous marriages and found out later that the Sheik who married us was too. My husband, my co-wife and I were in the same age range when I married him...47-48. We were married for 25 years.

Polygamy has been demonized by the reporting of men who have so many wives, many of which are minors. Also, if those families are a drain on the state funds (getting public assistance), that is certainly a catalyst. I had read a book, by a non-Muslim author entitled Man Sharing. Not only Mormons and Muslims practiced it, historically Jewish people practiced it as well. And as previously mentioned, it was no biggie back in Biblical times. Men had hundreds of concubines. This country is somewhat hypocritical too. Men who have mistresses are often excused and even admired. Affairs are so common in this country. But when someone legitimizes the relationship via marriage to a second (or 3rd) woman, he's seen as evil and possibly faces jail time. Add to that.... alleged religious freedom gets taken off the table.
 
I’m all about the nuclear family kids do best with a married mom and dad who are loving parents and they raise them in a stable atmosphere. I believe many of the problems of the world going on nowadays are the direct result of unstable family units. Mine is not a popular opinion but it is my opinion.
 

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