Polygamy in Today's Society.

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Jonathan Timbers 799878

September 18, 2001

Final Draft

Polygamy in Today’s Society

        

        In the Unites States today Polygamy is against the law. It is illegal to be married to more than one person. Although there are some religions that do accept polygamy in the United States, it is not considered to be normal. The normal family lifestyle in the Unites States consists of one father and one mother. In many African countries it is considered to be normal if you have a family with one father and many wives.  This is because of the social framework of that country. If every family in the Unites States had a polygamy family structure than it would be a normalcy.

        In the United States there is one major religion that permits polygamy. In Utah a branch of the Mormon religion wants men to have many wives at the same time. There are many families that do practice this by not getting married and just having a verbal marriage commitment. That is to get around the laws of the Unites States. When a polygamy case goes public their society is outraged. The men are considered to be power hungry and forceful. The society is left wondering how the women got hoaxed into living with other women and sharing the roll as a wife with each other.

        From a child’s point of view, in the United States polygamy ruins the institution of a family. To live in a house with your mother, father, and many of his other wives makes it hard to feel a close family connection between your mother and your father. One would be looked upon as an outcast from classmates or friends that come over and find out what is really happening between your families. It is not the norm this day in age to live by polygamist way. One would be brought up with many mothers instead of just one and that would be different to the child’s familiarity within a normal US family environment.  The child’s father would be very controlling while overseeing the many wives and children. The father would have to be the one in charge, making sure everyone did as he said to ensure the success of the family. Could the father balance his time to make sure every one of his children had a strong father figure to look up to as they grew up in a polygamy household? He often discourages free and independent pursuit of education, part of the child’s social dimension. Since the family is usually based on a religious aspect, their children are not allowed to go to public schools. The public schools would corrupt his demanding religious views.

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        The father figure in the polygamous household is many times associated with domestic violence and controlling over private lives. Telling people where they should work, expecting attendance at church services and activities, dictating decisions that should be made by the entire family are all things that a father might do, which is part of the psychological dimension. They have somewhat of a cult mind control. The leadership in the family is never shared. The father feels that men are believed to have more rights and abilities than the women. This is not true in our society today, where it has ...

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