Striving for Acceptance

The reconsideration of Polygamy as a whole is currently being issued in the United States.  In CNN's article Reconsider Polygamy, the first common relationship used as an example is the rising television show, "Sister Wives."  A federal judge in the state of Utah has recently put out a statement saying that the anti-Polygamy law that is present in the state of Utah is unconstitutional.  This arose a lot of discussion because in states like Utah, Arizona, and Texas, Polygamy is either practiced, or their is a current group of activists in these states who greatly support the issue.

Although a plural marriage may seem morally unacceptable, activists still have hope that their beliefs will someday be justified.  The statement that DOMA released about same sex marriage defined marriage as, "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife."  In the eye of the public this can appear to apply to only the issue of same sex marriage that has been a hot topic for the past couple of years, but it also was made to apply to the practice of Polygamy as well.  This stern statement was released, and same sex marriage has since been legalized in more than one state.  Therefore, the activists, feeding off of that hope, and statements similar to the one recently made by the federal judge from Utah gives these people the motivation to keep fighting.

I support the idea that these activists are fighting for what they believe in, and not loosing faith in the matter.  Although, as mentioned in the article numerous times, there is not a "clean-cut" way to practice Polygamy.  Many times in these situations wives and their children are abused or neglected when their husbands search for new spouses.  This cracks down on not only their self-esteem, but also their support system financially, and emotionally.  Well-known pop-culture icons, such as Akon, support and provoke plural marriages, but by doing this he is encouraging the activists and is making Polygamy look somewhat acceptable to the public.  I personally do not believe in this practice for the reason that it can cause emotional distress and damage for these woman and children.  Even though it is argued in this article that discriminating Polygamy is making this abuse harder to see because the practice is being done secretly, we as a unified country should be working to stop abuse in general, not just abuse within this practice.

Polygamy Introduction

I picked the topic of Polygamy because I do not know much about it, and it doesn't make much logical sense to me that it would ever be acceptable for a man to have more than one wife!  I want to research and discover how this changes people's daily lives, and how it effects them emotionally.  The questions I will ask throughout my research is, Where do the lines of faith and trust in your partner fall?  How are the woman in these situations okay with this?  What desires these men to have more than one wife?