whats wrong with Polygamy?

Question

Why do people not agree with polygamy? A lot of people already cheat on their spouses because that may not be enough for them. So why not make polygamy legal. Gay marriage is legal in my state...so whats wrong with polygamy?

I personally believe in being with one person. I just want peoples opinions.

Answer 1

Why get married in the first place??? Just sleep around...

Answer 2

It ISN'T wrong (in my opinion). It isn't MY cup of tea, but I don't feel that marriage should be interfered with by the government. I'm in complete agreement with those who favor legalizing polygamy. Concerning what others are saying about sleeping around: The point isn't having as many sex partners as possible, which is evident by the fact that these people want to get married in the first place. As as far as women being victimized is concerned: One need not be married to be victimized.

EDIT: LayLooLaRose, I expect thumbs down as well. Nevermind them... They are just closed minded and programmed with so many societal norms that they can't think straight.

To add: Laws against neglect and abuse can help greatly to protect women and children. Let's face the facts- Child and spouse/partner abuse is a problem in all types of family units. Spouses and children can be completely happy and well cared for in non-traditional households, including polygamist households. If children are having problems that don't involve any type of abuse or neglect then it's likely the fault of society. The problem is with society, NOT the family.

About STDs (since someone mentioned them): I respectfully disagree that this is a good enough reason for the prohibition of polygamy. Should we illegalize fornication? I don't think so. People are responsible for their own lifestyles and risks.

Answer 3

This is a tough question to answer from a non-religious standpoint. Since most forms of morality begin in some form of religion or another, a moral judgement would be difficult to draw apart from the absolutes afforded by religion. Here are a couple of answers that may help. Jealousies. Although most of the time mutually shared relationships start out as consenting, at some point in the shared relationship, it is often found that one or the other of the people doing the sharing begins to feel that "their" time is diminished, while another gets the extra attention. This often leads to bitterness, low self esteem, romantic battles, murders... a whole slew of other problems you can't diagnose without a PHD in Psychology. Financial strains. Often times, the person (in most cases, a man, having multiple women) finds that the financial constraints placed on the relationship strains the relationship that he has with each of the women he is involved with. When it is a case where all parties work, it becomes problematic when one loses their position in life, as they are often shunned in the relationship until their contributor-ship goes back up again. I am sure I could come up with others, but these are just a couple off the top of my head. Hope this helps...

Answer 4

I never really thought a whole lot about it till I started watching "Big Love" the HBO show. Jealousy seems to be a problem, having to hide it from the world is another one. This is a show about one man with 3 wives and it seems to stretch him a little thin and stress him out a lot. I don't see anything wrong with it if you are willing to share. I wouldn't want to do it, I am not cut out for it, too jealous. But for people who do live that lifestyle, I say why not make it legal? If everyone is of legal age and is willing to be a team.

Answer 5

It has the potential to cause a lot of conflict within the family, that can adversely affect the children. Of course children from polygamous families do not always have problems, just like children from lone parent families are not always that badly affected, but generally speaking, having two parents is better than having more than two or less than two parents.

Take a lesson from cultures that have practiced polygamy. Jewish culture for instance. In the Jewish Bible, all the stories of polygamous marriages, without exception, show that this leads to strife between the wives, increased rivalry between children (children of one wife pitted against children of the other wife), problems of favouritism (favourite wife and her offspring favoured by the husband) leading to envy and rivalry between wives and children, and so on.

Having said that, it is interesting to me that in the Bible, polygamy, though not seen as ideal, is permitted or tolerated, but homosexuality is not, whereas in the West, the opposite is true.

Even the Muslim Qur'an, which permits a man to marry up to 3 or 4 wives, and commands him to treat them equally, admits that it is impossible for a man to treat them all absolutely justly even if he wishes to do so (4:129).

Answer 6

The only problem I see with polygamy is that it typically adds MORE DRAMA to a relationship.

Most people in this country aren't "wired" for that type of relationship - they were brought up thinking that one-on-one relationships (and male-female relationships) are the only acceptable relationships. They get jealous... they get possessive... they don't think a person should be able to love more than one person at a time... etc., etc., etc.

Answer 7

It truly does defy the purpose and idea of marriage, but if all parties are willing to participate, then so be it. If it's what they all really want, who's to say it's wrong? It's up to the individual. I would never get into anything like that, but it does work for some people. To each his own.

Answer 8

It is against the law, for one thing.

I disagree with you, totally. If you want to sleep around, just don't get married. Problem solved.....unless you get an STD. Then you have bigger problems.


Gay marriage is not like polygamy at all, IMO.
There is no comparison.

Why marry at all if you will not commit to being faithful? You must not love enough.

Answer 9

The chance of spreading STD's (which are very common nowadays) goes way higher if you allow multiple partners. Also how do you decide which spouse or children to spend time with more. You can't evenly divide it up and you know it. There's too many problems and just the concept is gross.

Answer 10

people are scared of it because it is written out on paper. You know, never mind that JIMBO over here has 4 girlfriends, or that BOB has a wife, a mistress and a pool boy....(oops I guess that doesn't count) or that NIKKI is screwing the whole HOCKEY team....you get my point? If you make rules for these sorts of affairs, people run away. (rules being structured marriages with multiple partners) I believe we as humans can and do love more than one person. I believe we can commit to more than one person. It is in our nature. So go ahead, give me my thumbs down...and boo-hoo to you!

Answer 11

dosent matter, i think people should do whatever they want with out being told if they can get married or not. Who cares if u marry a man or a woman of the same sex, who cares how many people u can marry, or how many times u can get married. just live the way u want to.. but in my opinion... why get married, its just a pain! I am getting divorced, and i have no plans on marrying again!.. no way do i want those headaches again!... i can be happy with someone, love someone and live my life with someone without getting married!