Thoughts on Polygamy?

If it is between consenting adults, I'm fine with it. The problem as it is currently practiced in the US by certain religious groups (*cough*fundamentalist mormons*cough*), it often results in teenage girls being assigned well before the age of consent and young boys being thrown out on the street to reduce competition for women.

 

Worth reading about. This is a good jumping off point.

Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Girls as young as 12 are assigned as brides to older men by church leaders.

 

Well incest is one thing and polygamy is another. In some countries polygamy do/did exist and there's nothing wrong with . And in the US there are some cases of it. In my opinion, if you are able to love more than one person equally than go ahead and married them. As long as it is an equal amount of love to each spouse. And how you are able to prove that in court, is another question.

 

I personally don't like the idea, but that's just me. I'm very monogamous. I can only love one person at a time. I only want to be with one person. If consenting adults enjoy it, that's fine for them. It's just not for me.

 

I have no problem with fully consensual polyamorous relationships, where nobody was forced in, there is a good balance of power, and everyone has come to an agreement about how open or closed the relationship is. These aren't as common as other, more negative polyamorous relationships, but they can happen.

(These relationships can have any gender makeup, by the way -- three girls, two guys and a girl, five guys and four girls, whatever. Polyandry is the specific term for one woman and many men, and conversely polygyny is the practise of one man having many female partners, which is what most people think of when they think of polygamy.)

However, although I think it would be good if people in polyamorous relationships could get legally married, that one is a nightmare to set up. Gay marriage is very simple: it makes marriage "two people" rather than "two people of opposite genders". Inheritance, insurance, divorces, weddings, property sharing, etc. still works the same way. Polygamous marriages are not so simple* and without a major overhaul of the way marriage works legally, they won't be happening.

* What happens if one member of a group leaves and the rest don't? It is possible to deal with, but not as easy as just dealing with two people. What happens if A, B, and C are in a triad and B breaks up with A but not with C? What happens if A, B, and C are in a triad and B wants to marry D but A isn't happy with it? And so on.

 

The problem with polygamy is that a) it is usually women who are subordinate to a man, and less about love than property, and b) that legal division of estate and chatels would be impossibly difficult unless all was vested in one person, making divorce very complex, and inheritance and legal union would be subject to problems. If it is a union of several, all to each other, it could work a little like a family trust, but that is unlikely, so on the death of the uniting partner, the legal problems would be insane.

 

I have no problem with the concept of polygamy or incest (that doesn't involve inbreeding). However, as many have said, its wide open to abuse, particularly at the hands of religion.

 

I have no problem with consensual polygamous marriages/arrangements - heck, I'd be open to/wanting a polygamous relationship in the future if my partner wanted the same thing. I don't like the form it's taken in Utah or British Columbia (with religious overtones, and I suspect adolescent girls are being forced to marry men three times their age, which I don't agree with), but I can see it working for the right people.

I don't know why so many people are against polygamy - people aren't supposed to be monogamous (and I fully believe it's religious influence that has shaped us that way, as we weren't always exclusively with just one person). Again, it's religion that is the problem in the way of mainstream acceptance of polygamous relationship and marriages. I think so anyway.

I think where polygamy gets sticky is when divorce settlements, and childcare responsibilities come into play. With three plus people involved, it'd likely be interesting how that all works out; who gets the house, custody of children, etc? I think, as others have said above, that's where a big issue comes into play, and the legal system would have to be changed to accommodate all that in order for polygamy to be more accepted.

 

Marriage is a legal contract specifically designed for two persons. Denying that contract to same-sex couples is blatant discrimination, since the only difference versus an opposite-sex couple is the sex of one of the partners. It's a civil rights issue.

Polygamy is a completely different issue, and not comparable. Unlike same-sex marriage, polygamy actually would force the nature of marriage as an institution to change, since all the laws, rights, and benefits of marriage are designed for a union of two people. It would be really tough to handle things like child custody and divorce with multiple spouses. And does someone who marries 2, 3, 4 spouses get more benefits than someone who marries 1 person? Could someone make money marrying lots of immigrants to get them citizenship status in exchange for a fee? Then the institution of marriage becomes unequal. And it's not a civil rights issue.

I have no problem with polyamory. I've always been intrigued about the idea of a bunch of people living together in one big open relationship. Tbh I feel like it would get kinda lonely living with just one person in a house, I like being in groups, though not necessarily sexual...but nobody is stopping any of this.

However I see no reason why the State needs to get involved with that with the Marriage institution.

Homophobes who bring up the "polygamy" slippery slope are fools, it's a total non sequitur.

 

The polyamorous community is. It's more common than people think. It's certainly not commonly one abusive man + tons of submissive women, like people assume. There can be all sorts of arrangements.

(Polyamorous people can be uncomfortable being referred to as 'polygamous', so be careful).

 

It all comes down to consent. As long as everybody's pleased, then it's all good.

As for polygamy, I think it's actually pretty cool.

 

Love is love, but it has to have it's boundaries sometimes, so polygamy is acceptable in my opinion if it's consented and the people are not underage. Other than that, they can go wild for all I care.

 

Honestly I do not oppose the concept of polygamy, but them getting married would only make them estranged towards each other. If you truly love the people than marriage between more than 2 people should not be necessary.

 

I think more research needs to be done on how often polygamous relationships end up with problems of jealousy. I suspect a lot of people just can't handle polygamy. The few who can would need to be careful picking partners to ensure they don't end up hurting someone.

 

i dont care what people wana do with their lives

 

I think jealousy is less an problem with people that are open to polygamy in the first place. They are I think, usually quite openminded people, if you are talking about adults and no arranged situations and such.
Jealousy is, I believe, most common in insecure people and they wouldn´t want to be in a polygamous relation in the first place, I´d think?

My boyfriend was in an open relationship, which is quite similar. He has no jalousy problems at all.
I´m not sure about myself. Haven´t been in a situation where it could come up.

I think it´s a thing for people with plenty life experience, and are more about giving and sharing then about what they need or want from another.

 

This.