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Polygamy: insect in making Before searching the topic it is necessary to give a clear definition about the meaning of polygamy and about its main traits. A good definition was given by Valeria Richardson and it comprises the following: Polygamy is having several wives at one time. However, it has been a prerogative in many societies, for example, in harem. It is commonly found where the value of women's labor is high and may be practiced as a way of acquiring allies: A man may cement his bonds with several other men by marrying their sisters or daughters. Incest is sexual relations between persons to whom marriage is prohibited by custom or law because of their close kinship. Ideas of kinship, however, vary widely from group to group; hence the definition of incest also varies. (Richardson 2001) It is a matter of fact is forbidden both by statute and the state constitution in many countries including America.
For the last 30 years, authorities have followed a strict and stuff policy toward polygamists, but recent charges of immature marriage and insect within some plural families have thrust what possibly is the most persecuted religious minority in American history back into the line of fire. Polygamy is rather a common and spread situation among Mormons. The debate about polygamy is expected to attract national attention when a man with five wives becomes the first to face bigamy charges in more than 50 years. For many generations, polygamists have reacted to state crackdowns. It is known that they even went underground, changed their names and swore their children to secrecy. Those who couldnt creep back far enough into the shadows sometimes had been arrested, their homes had been lost, and their children had been taken from them.
But nowadays they try to fight back. (Gingrich vs. State 2003) It is a pity but there is little data on polygamists, but it is said that their numbers are growing. Nowadays women with six or more children are common phenomenon in polygamous marriages. In one extreme case, it was said that man has 34 wives and more than 200 children.
Many of polygamists think that living in polygamy, or celestial marriage, was required for heaven's highest blessings, but not for salvation. But the majority maintains that polygamy is a form of domestic violence and brutality that often leads to other abuses, especially to incest and the clandestine marriage of underage girls. (Gingrich vs. State 2003) Polygamy is also connected with incest which is also prohibited in the most countries of the world. There are many reasons for this. They are mainly based only in part on the observed fact that inherited defects tend to be transmitted in intensified form when both parents possess the same genes and the same bloodline. In many societies, the marriage of parents and their children, or brothers and sisters, is prohibited, but polygamists consider incest as a normal and positive phenomenon of their lives.
But not all of them are of the same opinion. Polygamists argued that incest also was rampant and uncontrolled within polygamy. After many years of living in such closed societies, many of the followers of polygamy are related, making it difficult to marry someone who doesn't share a bloodline. Sometimes, the incest goes even a step further. It is proved that women were married to their fathers. Richardson also noticed that about two-thirds of polygamous men have just two wives, while almost 90 percent have three or less.
Less than 5 percent have more than five wives. (Richardson 2001) But in some cases polygamy can be even oppressed among the polygamists. It relates to the case when the involved man cannot properly support more than one wife. Many of polygamists confess that the life of such husband is not only the erotic fantasy how many people can think. Polygamous husband have to balance the emotional needs of two wives and to deal with their inherent jealousies and insecurities.
And it can be more difficult taxing than most monogamous men can realize. Many of polygamists agree that it is not an easy way of life. Some even say it is hell when they can't overcome the fear and jealousy of their wives and their own. Most men would crack under such the pressure. (Richardson 2001) For many women who live in polygamous marriage their families are the most important and significant for them. It is not individual relations; it is something like collective work. Polygamists never gave up polygamy, even when they were threatened with excommunication by the authorities.
Shunned and subjected to periodic raids and arrests, many of them relocated to remote and distant regions, forming their own societies as they continued to practice their faith. It is suggested that many of the polygamists were convicted of felony child abuse. Anti-polygamists cite many examples of women forced to wed cousins or uncles and clans that regularly marry off teen-age girls to men old enough to be their grandfathers. (Gingrich vs. State 2003) Of course, public opinion is negative and it continues to run against plural marriage. Many people want to have even anti-polygamous statute or law, because they think polygamy is superiority and control of men over women. It is not natural.
Approval of polygamy and incest in many societies is impossible. It is possible to mention that polygamy and incest are not even a problem, but it is challenge to sexual liberals. Such relations violate well-established social norms and they contradict moral issues. So to sum up it is obvious that the major societies will never approve such phenomena as polygamy and incest. Works cited Richardson, Valerie.
Two Many Wives. Insight on the News. 7 May 2001, p. 30 Gingrich vs. State. The Washington Times. April 23, 2003. p. 7
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Research essay sample on Polygamy Insect In Making
