The other night I went to bed, but I was not quiet tired enough to call it a night. So I started browsing “Netflix” for some options. I wanted to watch a TV show, because a feature length film would have been too long and it was already late. Long story short, I discovered a TV show called “Sister Wifes.” When I read the description I found out it was a TV show about a family that lives the polygamy lifestyle. I had never been interested in that topic, but I do have an inquisitive personality and always enjoy learning new things.
The family that was featured consisted of three wifes who shared one husband (but not their sex lives) and had 13 children. What I realized after watching was, that opposite of what I might have assumed before, they do not seem weird at all (aside from sharing their husband), but like a big, happy family. Their children were taken good care of, they seemed intelligent and well spoken, and although their family structure seems off or strange at first, I believe that if someone is happy outside of conventional patterns that are determined by society, and is able to create a loving and nurturing family environment, I am OK with it. A friend of mine had posted something on Facebook the other day, her status said: “The abuse rate of lesbian households is zero – I find that incredibly beautiful.”
In the New York Times, readers replied to an article called “One Big Happy Polygamous Family.” Here is what a reader named Carol Kraines said:
“Polygamy amounts to female child abuse. Girls are “given” to men at a young age, generally with minimal education. The husbands don’t believe in family planning, of course, so the girls become pregnant early and often. The husband makes the decisions about the number of wives in the household, and about every other aspect of their lives.”
I am not pro-polygamy, but what I saw on that TV show was the opposite. I must say I was surprised. I am not sure if all polygamist households are that loving, maybe they are not. One thing this family was emphasizing, was their goal to raise happy children. They also stated they would support them when they grow up, even if they did not want to follow their parents foot steps into living the same kind of lifestyle.
There is no question that any kind of abuse in any kind of family should be prosecuted, but why determining how people should live, if there is nothing wrong with it except for not being considered the norm?
