I’m ashamed to admit it, but I haven’t kept abreast of trends in polygamy. I know, but I’ve got one wife and the idea of having more would make my head explode. If you’re like me, however, fear not. Jonathan Turley provides all you could possibly want to know, and more, about what’s happening in polygamy these days.
Turley, “lead counsel for the cast of the TLC reality TV show ‘Sister Wives’ on possible polygamy charges in Utah,” is going international as an expert in polygamy, providing an affidavit “as a legal expert in the polygamy case before the British Columbia Supreme Court — a case that is being watched closely around the world.” As an aside, isn’t it always the unassuming professorial types who turn out to be oddly knowledgeable about cutting edge sexual relationships? Just saying’.
The affidavit itself it a brief two-pager, adopting under oath the content of his expert report. But before you get to the report, one has to wade through Turley’s curriculum vitae, which weighs in at a whopping 40 pages. How he managed to cut it down to the bare bones, I’ll never know. When a lawprof burps, it’s a new line in the CV.
The primary thesis of the report is that societal and legal views of polygamy, and Turley provides a definitional section to describe it in all its glorious permutations, are intellectually dubious and changing. He argues that the long-held societal prohibitions reflect a tyranny of the majority against bona fide religious beliefs and intrusion of government into personal choices, private consensual unions. He argues that plural unions are not inherently dangerous, and therefore nobody’s business, much like homosexual unions. Do these women look dangerous to you?
While it hadn’t occurred to me before, his point that societal norms are a’changing makes some sense, given that The Learning Channel does indeed air a television reality show about alleged polygamists. This is how minds begin to change, seeing that the folks who engage in this conduct don’t have horns.
Perhaps this is the start of a trend toward normalization of polygamy, though it hasn’t done much for Housewives in New Jersey. Still, I can only imagine what comes next:
Pot Luck (Bravo, 8:00 p,m,) — The gripping story of a group of sexy marijuana farmers dealing with the highs and lows of hydroponics while keeping one step ahead of the laws.
While nothing in Turley’s affidavit made me think that polygamy is a good idea for anyone who doesn’t put on magic underwear every morning, it’s certainly quite informative and relatively persuasive.
Considering that second (or third) spouse, and yes, ladies, multiple husbands (or polyandry, as we are informed) is on the table as well, in the near future? Then this is a must read. Whether your plan is the next great reality TV show or a stint in the local hoosegow, the time to bone up on poly-whatever is before you’ve said, “I do.” And “I do, I do, I do, I (hmm, not sure about you; Well, okay) do.”
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“I’ve got one wife and the idea of having more would make my head explode.”
How clever of you, to turn supply and demand on its head like that. You recognize that the magic of the free market provided you a supply of exactly one woman (and a doctor, no less) who would marry you. Now you act like the absence of any other woman is based on your lack of demand.
Your readers see through this.
You caught me, though to my credit, when I married her, she wasn’t a doctor yet. I could have never gotten a doctor on my own.
My opinion on polygamy has always been “Who cares/why not?” I mean, legally speaking there are some hurdles, but none that can’t be gotten around by some careful drafting; morally/societally, who f*cking cares? If my neighbor wants to have one wife, I don’t give a shit. If he wants to have four wives, also none of my business. The religious argument is a red herring because we don’t base our legal decisions on any particular religion. And as a side note to that, I always find it funny that Christians deride Mormons for their “strange” beliefs, forgetting that the Bible is every bit as full of ridiculous contradictory nonsense as the Book of Mormon or Dianetics or any other religion out there.
Marry whomever you want, and leave the government out of it.
Written like a single man. Let me know after 25 years of marriage whether having more than one wife is no big deal. Hah, rookie.
Fair enough. Although whether someone else has nultiple wives is still none of my business. Me, I’ll take my girlfriend and my dogs, and none of the tax benefits or property quagmires that come with marriage in a community property state.
I’ve asked your girlfriend and your dog, and they concur in your grouping.
I come from a religion that permits polygamy. It is awful, horrendous and degrading. Do not be fooled by what you see on t.v. There is a substantial amount of brainwashing that takes place before they even get to the point where the women think it’s ok for their husband to take another wife.
Are you comdemning polygamy, or Muslim polygamy. or some Muslim polygamy? Is this anecdotal or based on personal experience?
If I may — and, if I may not, you know what to do about it — I’ve got quite a few friends who into the whole polyamorous thing — different, but related to, polygamy. It would work horribly for me, but it works just fine for them. The key, it seems to me, is that if, at any time, somebody in wants out, they can do it, without danger to their persons, or their other relationships — with, say, employers or the general society.
That suggests an obvious theory.
I am condemning polygamy. It is based on personal experience (not with my own marriage, but lots and lots of folks I know who have more than 1 wife). I doubt it’s too much different from white people polygamy.
So based on your personal observations and experience, there can be no such thing as consensual polygamy, and anyone engaged in it has done so be abusive conduct, thus making polygamy inherently dangerous and wrong? As you can tell, I’m not knowledgeable about polygamy of any color. Flavor either.