Polygamy? Should it be legalized?

[My$terio_Fan]

I was watching the TV today and the issue of polygamy was brought up. Polygamy is illegal in Canada(and most of the United States, I think)but people are now trying to argue that they deserve to have the right to marry as many women as they want. There defence is that it is going against the charters of rights and freedoms which says everyone has the right to religion, and since polygamy is sanctued by the religion and apart of it then it should be legal. They also bring up the fact that if gays have the gotten the right to marry then why shouldn't they? So do you think Polygamy should be legalized and brought into the mainstream public or be legalized and made a crime?

I don't see the need to legalize it. Do you really need more than one wife? Most people don't want anymore but I guess if you want it then I really don't care.

Bringing up the gay marriage thing is smart but I believe that's two completley different things. Gay people can't help that they are gay, while you sure can help marrying 5 women.

And then religion is brought into it. I love that here in Canada and the States you have the freedom to choose your religion and practice it and that your rights are protected but it has to stop someone. What if one religion say's it's ok to kill blacks, or beat gays, should they be protected? I don't think so.

 

[Mr. TM]

Well In Canada, as you probably know M_F, there was a colony, just as there was in America, where polygamy was happening called Bounty. The colony in the state of Texas was taken over by the authorities, and the same thing seems to be happening in British Columbia.

In Canada it is illegal to marry multiple people at once. But it is possible to be common-lawed married to multiple people through a loophole. This is what had happened in Bounty.

The problem with too many polygamy groups is there is extreme levels of abuse that occur in them. If there was no abuse, and no one was truly hurt, then it does make sense, humans as animals are destined to be with many other humans to reproduce.

In Canada, we also have freedom of religion. As this is through religious purposes, then they should be allowed to continue, until abuse occurs, then the abuser must be removed from the structure.

 

[Ms. TM Canada]

Polygamy itself is not a problem. It is the way it can lend itself to abusive situations.
In less developed countries (or primitive living situations), I can see how having more than one woman per family could be particularly useful. Instead of one woman raising the children, doing the cleaning, working in the garden/farm, and doing the cooking, there would be several who could divide the work while the man brought home income/food.
In Canada and the US, our societies no longer work this way. We're industrialized. In fact, I felt sexist even typing out that women do all those things, but in some 3rd world societies, this is the case and it works well for them.

I wonder how polygamy would work in the case of one wife and multiple husbands....
I can't see it serving any particular function, to be honest. If you must legalize polygamy though, it would have to include multiple husbands as well.

What gives polygamy a bad rap is the crazy religious cults who are run by assholes who want the satisfaction of sleeping with more than one woman. In these cults, women are often treated like cattle, and are traded off to other men. Abuse among young girls is commonplace, because the men of the cult have been trained that women are for sex and cooking.
Canada does have religious freedom. However, we also have laws stating that if you are causing harm to public health, public order, or the public that your right to practice that religion can be taken away. Since the people of Bounty are considered "the public", and harm was being done to them, I'm very angry that the authorities didn't go in sooner.

Final verdict: I think polygamy has it's place and can be useful, but not in our countries. We have no need for 4 women or men per household (unlike underdeveloped countries), which is why the situations that do contain that many people in our countries often are abusive and/or oppressive.
Keep it illegal in Canada and the US.

 

[HBK-aholic]

It should definitely be illegal, and the men/women okay with their partner being with anyone other than them are stupid. It's just a stupid situation to be in, and would cause a whole load of problems. Why exactly do you need more than one husband or wife? You don't, is the simple answer.

The gay argument is also incredibly stupid - gays have the right to marry ONE person, just as hetrosexuals have the right to marry ONE person. There is in no way a link between gays been allowed to marry, and straight people being allowed to marry more than one person at a time. If you don't want to be wth the person you're with, divorce them before you marry someone else. All this would do is make people think cheating is okay.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Legal, illegal, who gives a shit? It's unimportant. People go to prison for it but it's hardly crime of the century.

It's easily sorted. Marry as many people as you want. You can tell them and live in bliss, or keep it a secret. Just like that evil Barlow bloke off Coronation Street. The only rule is, if you get caught, you pay the person you divorce a mandatory fine. I'll say £10,000. You have 10 years to pay the fine, or you get a million hours community service.

Sorted. And I'm off.

 

[Tim]

Meh. Really, it doesn't really matter. It shouldn't even really be that big an issue. For starters, why would you want a second partner anyway? It's not like you really need them for anything. It would just screw up your life, there would probably be constant arguments. Makes no sense. If you want to have a second partner, and you and your current partner are fine with it, then you should be able to have more than one parner. But if you keep it a secret and you get caught out, then you should have to pay a fine or do community service, but jail for that is a bit harsh. And hey, there's always divorce.

 

[Father:_Polley]

The joke of Polygamy being having too many mother-in-laws springs to mind (some say marriage is the same). Going Biblical here... no man can serve two masters (replace masters with wives), he'll love one and hate the other.

In my opinion, if you truely loved your wife, you wouldnt want to be with another. If you want another wife (much like a mistress), there's clearly something wrong in the marriage and it'd be fairer to the other party to be up front.

Mormons and Arab Shieks with many wives, well clearly that's just for the sex.

From the wife's POV, if your husband had another wife, you'd be jealous and there would be no happiness in the marriage, which in my view is kind of the point of getting married in the first place

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Why the fuck should it be illegal?? I have seen ZERO real reasons why, besides "just becuase"...I chortle at the individuals in this thread who support abortion, and legal prostitiution, siting "its meh bawdy, I can do what I want" but for some reason your not allowed to marry as many people as you want, and your not allowed to be one of many wives. I say it should be ok, simply becuase there is no reason for it not to be. Who gives a shit?? If thats what people want to do with themselves, then so be it, especially if its their religous beliefs.

 

[HBK-aholic]

Why the fuck should it be illegal?? I have seen ZERO real reasons why, besides "just becuase"...I chortle at the individuals in this thread who support abortion, and legal prostitiution, siting "its meh bawdy, I can do what I want" but for some reason your not allowed to marry as many people as you want, and your not allowed to be one of many wives. I say it should be ok, simply becuase there is no reason for it not to be. Who gives a shit?? If thats what people want to do with themselves, then so be it, especially if its their religous beliefs.

It shouldn't be okay, because marriage is a legally binding ceremony, and it is to one person. For example, if you're seriously ill in a hospital, the doctors ask if they can turn life support off. The ask the 'next of kin', which in married men is their wife. What would happen there, if there was 4 of them?

Secondly, I doubt many women would know their husband was married more than once, which is just saying cheating on someone is okay. I remember you saying you hate that, so I don't really see how this can be seen as any different.

I think basically, if you want to go out and have sex with a lot of different women, fine, that is your choice, but don't get married and then do it.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

It shouldn't be okay, because marriage is a legally binding ceremony, and it is to one person. For example, if you're seriously ill in a hospital, the doctors ask if they can turn life support off. The ask the 'next of kin', which in married men is their wife. What would happen there, if there was 4 of them?

Secondly, I doubt many women would know their husband was married more than once, which is just saying cheating on someone is okay. I remember you saying you hate that, so I don't really see how this can be seen as any different.

I think basically, if you want to go out and have sex with a lot of different women, fine, that is your choice, but don't get married and then do it.

says who??? thats a religous thing, not a legal thing. You of all people, id think you would be all about that.

UM what the FUCK??? how could they not?? full on marriages?? come now. and yes cheating on someone should have nothing to with legality. I also dont agree with aboriton or prostituion, but I also undertsand that has nothing to do with legality. Morally, no cheating is never ok. Legally though, there is nothing you can do. speration you see. and "polygamy" is a religous thing, a term for a lifestyle. I think the definition even reveals that all the wives are perfectly aware of each other.

Morally, its not cool to have sex with various women after marriage. agreed. unfortunately, mine and oyurs moral beliefs have ZERO to do with if something should be legal or not.

 

[Mrs Sexy]

What's the point in marrying more than one person? That's just stupid. I don't believe anyone should get jail time for it. That's a silly crime because they aren't hurting anyone. But I don't agree with polygamy. I think you should be married to ONLY one person. Too many husbands/wives could cause way too much drama and jealousy. If I'm not mistaken, but aren't Mormons allowed to have 7 wives? Or is that just some wise tale? I hear guys joke about it all the time. To me, if a man/woman wants more than one wife/husband then they are most likely unhappy with the relationship with the wife/husband they are currently with. If that's the case, don't get more than one wife/husband. Either try and fix what's making the relationship unhappy or get divorced if you absolutely believe the relationship won't work.

 

[Sparky]

i dont really care either way, i know that i won't ever have more then one wife, but somebody elses life is none of my buisness. if you want to have three wives go for it, if you want to marry a comic book character, a duck, a same sex person go for it, its none of my buisness and nobody else should interfer. As long as the wives know about each other there shouldnt be a problem, if they dont like it don't marry him.

 

[Gelgarin]

Opposition to polygamy is 'exactly' the same as opposition to same sex or interracial marriage.

Either way your trying to dictate how other people live their lives based on your moral beliefs. In other words, you need to get the fuck over yourself.

Provided it takes places in an acceptable and consensual manner, polygamy is an utterly victimless crime, and the thing about victimless crimes, is that you have to work extremely hard to justify why they should be a crime in the first place.

Hundreds of civilizations over the years have had fully legalised polygamy. It only became outlawed in the western world when Christian doctrine started invading the legal system. It is not the place of the church, it not the place of the government, and it sure as hell isn't the place of any of us, to try and define what love is and is not; and if you honestly struggle to understand why someone might be inclined towards something that you find disagreeable... well, I'll have to go back to my earlier point. Get the fuck over yourself.

Now, to clarify my point before a get floored by a ballistic newspaper headline, what is not OK are those underground communities where dozens of underage girls are married off to cult leaders. There are a great many reprehensible aspects about what goes on inside such organisations, and none of them have to do with polygamy.

That's about all I've got to say on the matter. I was trying to work another 'get the fuck over yourself' in to the text since the science of attention dictates that such exclamations work best in threes, but that ship pretty much sailed. This is honestly too basic an issue to have any more to say on. It's a straight up case between philosophies of empathy and tolerance, compared with... well... being a jackass.

Over and out.