Sister Wives

[Ms Tree]

My wife started watching it out of curiosity so I started watching it as well. It was not what I expected. I was expecting subservient wives in long dresses, religious fanatics, over bearing husband.... etc. What I found was strong wives, goofy husband, seemingly well adjusted kids.

National Geographic did a segment a while back on polygamy that was quite contrary to what the show portrays. Not sure which is more prevalent, the TV show type or the NG type.

I am not sure why the LEO's where investigating the family on the show. It is obvious no laws were broken. Legally he is only married to his first wife. The rest are just wives by ceremony. Waste of tax payer money.

While it is not something I have any interest in (one wife is plenty as far as I am concerned) it does seem to work for them and I do see the logic for them as they described it. Part of it was religion based and part of it is 'logistics' for lack of a better term. With multiple wives the job of making the family run is spread out.

Does anyone else watch this show or have any interest in it?

 

[777 fixer]

Of course the show is going to portray it them as one big happy family. They did the did the same with John and Kate Plus 8. Look at what happened to them.

 

[Ms Tree]

They have shown some of the ugly stuff. The show actually seems pretty fair to me. I am not sure if thsi family is in the majority or minority though. The NG article was more abiut the hard core FLDS folks. This family is pretty normal aside from the 4 wives and 16 kids.

Regardless, I dont understand why people seem to be afraid of things that are different. So the dude wands 4 wives. Who cares? So long as he doesn't get any tax advantages or what ever that no one else gets Whats rhe big deal?

 

[777 fixer]

They have shown some of the ugly stuff. The show actually seems pretty fair to me. I am not sure if thsi family is in the majority or minority though. The NG article was more abiut the hard core FLDS folks. This family is pretty normal aside from the 4 wives and 16 kids.

Regardless, I dont understand why people seem to be afraid of things that are different. So the dude wands 4 wives. Who cares? So long as he doesn't get any tax advantages or what ever that no one else gets Whats rhe big deal?

There was a guy I knew in the Navy that grew up in one of those FLDS communities. While he never got into details he made it clear he wanted nothing to do with that lifestyle. Which is not suprising when you hear about how young men are treated in those types of communities.

One thing religous fundementalism has in common the world over, the subjugation of women.

 

[Ms Tree]

There was a guy I knew in the Navy that grew up in one of those FLDS communities. While he never got into details he amde it clear he wanted ntohing to do with that lifestyle. Which is not suprising when you hear about how young men are treated in those types of communities.

One thing religous fundementalism has in common the world over, the subjugation of women.

The NG article covered that as well. The leaders of some of the communities saw young males as competition for the women so they would essentially be tossed out on the street. Women would be married off at very young ages regardless of their feelings, ad they would be married off to much older men.

I have not been able to find anything that indicates what is more 'popular'. The NG type nut jobs or the folks like the "Sister Wives". The folks on the TV program seem to be much more egalitarian and normal compared tot he NG group. As they have said on the show, very few of the polygamists are going to go around advertising who they are due to the prosecution risk and stigmas attached to the life style so an accurate count would be very difficult.

From the show it would seem that the women in this particular family are quite strong and do not seem to be subjugated at least not in the typical sense. They all dress in normal clothing, do normal activities and the children seem to be fairly well grounded. Of course no one knows what goes on with the cameras off but they have shown some of the 'bad stuff' on the show as well.

I still maintain that so long as no one is harmed and the participants are not under duress, what business of it of the city/state/nation what consenting adults do with their own lives? So he has four wives? How does that affect me?

 

[SparrowHawk]

One thing religious fundamentalism has in common the world over, the subjugation of women.

That's because historically woman were viewed as property. It's even in the wedding vows used in most churches in the USA.

When the Pastor says, "Who giveth this women to be wed" and the father (usually) says "I do". Those words date back to a time when a young woman was the property of the father. Which is why some feminists strike that line from their vows.

You see this in arranged marriages in other cultures as well and with the Hasidim here. Interestingly enough the divorce rate among the Hasidim is under 2 percent. I've no earthly idea what that tell us, but it does say something.

 

[777 fixer]

I still maintain that so long as no one is harmed and the participants are not under duress, what business of it of the city/state/nation what consenting adults do with their own lives? So he has four wives? How does that affect me?

How it affects you is irrelevant. What we have seen on more than one occasion with the FLDS community is forced marriages of underage girls, i.e. statutory rape. Young men being thrown out by the community because they are seen as a threat by the older men etc, etc.

What you are seeing on TLC is a sugar coated version of that lifestyle. Of course they want everyone to be all smiles and sunshine. Like I said before they made John and kate Plus 8 appear the same way right up until the marrigae imploded.

 

[Ms Tree]

Yes those people exist. I am not denying that. There are hetero/conventional married people who are bad as well but they are not the majority. That is what I am questioning. Are the folks in the NG article the majority of the polygamy movement or are the folks in the show the majority? They are a very closed society so there does not seem to be a definitive answer to that question.

Is it sugar coated? Sure to a degree I would imagine it is. I do not think it is to the degree you seem to think. I never watched the other show so I cannot comment on it.

 

[xUT]

Looks like 2 of them are preggers...