The Perils of Polygamy

The Perils of Polygamy

Because polygamy is a lifestyle for those who practice it, just like a monogamous marriage, every relationship is different.  About 85% of societies have experienced polygamy in their communities.  Supporters of same sex marriage play a big role in the process of trying to legalize polygamy.  A lot of people don't know that polygamy actually comes in three different forms of relationships, polygyny, polyandry, and polygynandry.  Polygyny is the most well known form of polygamy where there are many two or more wives and one husband in the relationship.  Polygandry is basically the opposite, where two or more husbands share one wife.  This form of polygamy is pretty radical and is not seen very often.  In most situations like this, two brothers marry one wife.  Lastly, polygynandry is the practice where at least two wives marry at least two husbands, but they all share a relationship.

I thought that this article was extremely interesting because it is very shocking when you first discover that polygamy comes in a variety of forms.  As outsiders, we see the power struggles between the senior and junior wives in polygyny.  The senior wives are viewed as superior and more knowledgeable, while they still feel intrigued by the junior wives because they are younger (usually early twenties), and are new to the family.  I was always very bias about this topic of polygamy because it is something that I’ve never experienced, so I think, who am I to judge?  Now that I have been exposed to the ideas of polygynandry and polyandry, I am starting to become a bit more skeptical.  I don’t see how a brother marrying one wife could have the potential to be successful.  I would imagine that these offspring might acquire much confusion and difficulties throughout their lifetime, having two father figures who happen to be brothers.

Polygynandry is also something that is fairly difficult for me to wrap my head around.  I personally don’t understand how you could create a family that involves two or more wives, and two or more husbands all sharing the same relationships.  This is an extremely rare form of polygamy, but I can just imagine the constant power struggle and confusion that these families may have on a day-to-day basis.  I am a very firm believer in the saying, “live and let live,” but I think that somewhere society and ethical morals should draw the line.  I understand that all of these practices are illegal, although, I can’t comprehend how some people view this to be the CORRECT way to live.