Polygamy In The United States

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The most common form of polygamy is polygyny, where a man has multiple wives. Polygyny has existed for centuries, dating back to biblical times. Not only is it looked upon negatively by society, it is also illegal in the United States of America. Even though this is true, polygyny still exists today. An estimated 100,000 people in the monogamous United States of America are practicing polygamy secretly and illegally (polygamy.org). The majority of people that choose polygyny also came from a polygamist family. Their background knowledge for polygamist families are one of the reasons that it leads them to polygamy themselves. Despite the criticism, there are many advantages to being in a plural marriage. In the case of polygyny, more wives means more income. In the early stages of the marriage when there isn’t many children to care for, many or all of these wives can work to increase the family’s income. After they start having children they can have a choice whether or not to stay at home, go to school, or work. The wives that choose to stay at …show more content…
In the case of polygamy, the tradition in the family is shared with the children and will be a part of them forever. Although a small portion of these children grow up to continue a polygamist marriage themselves, the few that do usually suggest that their family background played a part. Some of the children in polygamist families need or want to continue the tradition they grew up with when they become adults. They cannot find the same values they grew up with, within monogamy, so they seek them in polygyny. They can feel that just having themselves and their one spouse with their children would get stressful and lonely. Support also comes from their polygamist parents, who may hope they decide to follow the same path as them. Pressure is often added onto their children to continue the family’s beliefs or religion that supports this type of

Polygamy In The United States

Polygamy is not something that most people really know about. Polygamy is defined as a marital system in which one man is married concurrently to more than one woman (Hamdan, Auerbach, and Apter).Polygamy is not common in the United States, but the most common case known in today's society would have to be the TLC television series Sister Wives. [Polygamy] is also particularly common in other countries and it is estimated that marriages of more than 50% of all wives in some cultures are polygamous…

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Sister Wives: A Case Against The Mormon Family

Kody Brown, his seventeen children, and his four wives: Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, Christine Brown, and Robyn Sullivan. Before the show even premiered, multiple attorneys and legal experts claimed that the series would endanger the Brown family, as polygamy is illegal in Utah. The show could be used as evidence against the family, making the possibility of criminal prosecution high. This meant that Kody could face a minimum of 20 years in prison. Despite this,…

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Native American Polygamy Essay

Native American Polygamy The first cases of polygamy where before Christian settlers even arrived in the United States and began to claim lands. Polyamorous relationships were known to be had by Native Americans, ranging from one man and two sisters to temporary polyandry (one women married to multiple men). Due to there being many different tribes all over America, there are very many different ways of marriage (not all including polyamory). Such as, Navajo tribes having sororal polygyny- one man…

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Research Paper

rest of society. A good example of a cross cultural comparison would be polygamy. In the United States of America polygamy is against the law, yet it is still practiced in our country (The World Book Encyclopedia 2001). It is estimated that between 30 to 50 thousand fundamentalist Mormons live in polygynist families and communities in the Western United States. (Duncan, E. J. (2008). Positive Effects of Legalizing Polygamy: Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, The. Duke J. Gender L. & Pol'y, 15, 315)…

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Essay on Juvenile Delinquents Should Be Tried a Adults

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Polygamy and Mormon Identity “Polygamy and Mormon Identity” is an article written by O. Kendall White, Jr. and Daryl White that focuses on the connection between Mormonism and plural marriage. The argument is that should the Saints succeed, the world will no longer recognize a link between Mormonism and plural marriage in the future. Both authors have a background in Sociology and Anthropology. O. Kendall White, Jr. is a professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Washington and Lee University, and…

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Latter Day Saints Research Paper

to stay away from alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee. Polygamy is strictly prohibited in this religion. Back in the time of Joseph Smith plural marriages were common. The fourth president by the name of Wilford Woodruff in 1890 stopped plural marriages. Anyone who practices polygamy in church at the present time can remain a member of the church. Today members respect the past when there was plural. Polygamy groups in the western United States and Canada are not part of the Latter- Saints. The term…

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