The Latest Sexual Revolution: Polyamory
There is one day out of the year when you see sights of couples everywhere: Valentine’s Day. You see individuals out in stores buying roses, large teddy bears and grabbing the last remaining chocolate candy boxes that are left on the shelves. But if you are imagining a man and a woman as the couple you’re visioning, you are in for a surprise. A man and a woman isn’t the only way to go through life as how a couple should look. In fact, it is estimated over 100,000 monogamous people in the Unites States are performing polygamy secretly with their partner’s full permission. These popular nonmonogamous relationships do not match to the cultural norm of a loving couple in love for life. One of the most difficult aspects of multiculturalism is the determination to adapt to some cultural groups’ needs involving certain traditional practices that might clash with the ideas of multiculturalism and self-governing civil rights. Normally, many of these exercises have religious roots, but these are not limited. Some important cases are certain rights of opening exercises: spiritual and religious. For most of the cases, a smaller group’s traditional exercises are against the norms of a typical society but also organize a substantial aspect of the way of life for that certain culture. Some samples of polygamy in Islam, female circumcision in Eastern Africa nations, or Ta-moko, as referred to as tattooing of the face, in the culture of Maori. The most crucial topic around these established practices in the multiculturalism debate is the idea of agreement. Yet, not all exercises are achieved with the agreement of the subjects. Some cultures and historic periods are seen to embrace polyamory, while other cul...
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...jective as a theoretical matter. Furthermore, there are current issues with the classification of sexual orientation, as it presently exists, mostly with efforts to essentialize the class. These issues could be enhanced, at least to some degree, by introducing the classification to other kinds of sexual preferences, thus extending the attention and possibly reducing the theoretical load that attraction to one sex or the other or both is projected to bring. The significant bias that polyamorists face along with other nonmonogamists are both loaded by an establishing value of discrimination which encourage the move to enlarge the description of polyamory being as part of sexual orientation. “It is the hope that everyone will take this opportunity to question monogamy ‘as a preference’ or ‘choice’… and to do the intellectual and emotional work that follows.” (Emens 82)
All the way through Migdim's incident with arranged marriages, we can understand the old customs that has to do with marriage. It is obvious that, although women were believed to be obedient, they were capable to effectively convince men. Yet, today there seems to be a sign toward polygamous marriages that are eventu...
...ȧ’s objective for writing this non-fiction excerpt was written to get the readers to see the perspective of someone who is in a polygamous relationship, is living in a community society, and for us to understand the abnormality around us. Ryan and Jethȧ presented their argument by first opening up with a simple way to get our attention and then the book ended by showing the readers how polygamy causes problems in a relationship. The authors started with the theme “everyone is different” by mentioning how some villagers would eat herbs, insects and parts of an animal that citizens today would not eat. Then, the two authors spoke of community and nuclear family within different culture of the past, and about being involved in a polygamous or monogamous relationship. In the end, the author brought the reader back to reality by summarizing the book in the last chapter.
Beall, L. (2005). The Impact of Modern-Day Polygamy on Women and Children. Journal of International Cultic Studies, 2 (1), 2-8.
Jonathan Katz talks about the initial creation of the term “heterosexuality” and how it was used to classify certain groups of people’s way of practicing sex. Along with the negative ideology the term reflected upon society. The author talks about the early definition of the term “heterosexuality”. Katz closely examines the different cultures and what sex meant to them prior to the term and over all labeling of “heterosexual” and what become of them after the fact. Katz illustrates the many faces of the term “heterosexual” starting with the early definition of the word, which was at the
Monogamy is a cultural norm that dominates many modern societies, and when individuals engage in monogamous relationships, they are unconsciously conforming to historical and cultural legacies of what is perceived as love that predate their illusions of personal agency. Although anthropological records indicate that 85% of human societies have tended towards polygamy (Henrich, Boyd and Richerson 2012), the modern culture of monogamy has rapidly risen and spread in the past millennium (Senthilingam 2016). This demonstrates how an individual’s conception of a heterosexual relationship as normatively monogamous has been constructed by social forces. In addition, social forces in the form of state legislation also perpetuate and reinforce an individual’s conception of what a romantic relationship should entail. Monogamous heterosexual marriage remains to be the only form of marriage with legal recognition in many countries. An individual’s belief that a romantic relationship should culminate in marriage is hence not formed through independent thought, but rather through what is considered normative by law. Essentially, “marriage is not an instinct but an institution.” (Berger 1963, 88) because it is enabled and promoted by virtue of the law. In addition, many couples believe in
Have you ever considered cheating on your partner? Studies show that there is a 76% chance of either partner in a marriage committing infidelity (Ferrer 55). In light of the common occurrence of infidelity within monogamous relationships in our society, would it not be logical to consider the possibility that non-monogamous relationship dynamics might be appropriate for some individuals? The idea seems to be on people’s minds, since it has also been coming up in popular culture lately, in shows like “Big Love” and “Sister-Wives”, both of which focus on polygamy, the practice of being married to more than one person at a time. Additionally, there have been many articles written about polyamory, the practice of having more than one intimate relationship at one time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved, and non-monogamy recently. One such article is “Beyond Monogamy and Polyamory,” written by Jorge Ferrer, Ph.D., who is the Chair of the Dept. of East-West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and was published in ReVision Journal. Ferrer’s goal in writing this article is to expose readers, mainly other scholars, to the possibility of non-monogamous relationships, and the concept of sympathetic joy. While I agree with much of what Ferrer is saying in his article, particularly his points about sympathetic joy, jealousy, genetics, and his responses to the arguments against polyamory, the fact that he overlooks the religions that do not support his theory, while using others to support his theory, weakens his argument.
Most American women would shudder at the thought of their husband spending time with another woman. Not Elizabeth Joseph. Joseph chronicles her life in polygamy in an essay that appeared in the New York Times in 1991 entitled “My Husband’s Nine Wives”. Joseph discusses how it is problematic to manipulate her life around her husband Alex, her occupation and her youngster on a daily basis. She argues monogamous relationships are chockfull of “compromises” and “trade-offs”. She mentions how excited the children are when their Father comes to eat once a week. Joseph speaks of making an “appointment” to spend time with him. If it is another wife’s turn, Joseph may interject if she is “longing for intimacy and comfort only he can provide.” (148) Joseph asserts pleural marriage is the only resolution to her problems. Unlike Joseph, most American women are managing a demanding full time job, hyperactive children and their needy husband on a daily basis.
In conclusion it is apparent that this is becoming a more prevalent topic among current generations. Current scientific and social research suggest that many are moving towards non-monogamy to pursue a more fitting relationship style that better fits their personal needs and satisfies individual desires. As a culturally constructed phenomenon, we are starting to tests the waters of breaking away from tradition. In a society that prides itself on moving closer towards the future, this one-size-fits-all concept of monogamy is pulling many back into the history books.
Mention the concept of polygamy in any “civilized” gathering, and you just may be able to see the shiver of repulsion that ripples through the crowd. By substituting the word “polyamory” in, you will be able to circumvent this reaction – but only because everyone is staring at you in baffled silence instead. So we begin, as always, with definitions.
Polygamy is defined as “a marriage that includes more than two partners.” There are different types of polygamy, these include: polygyny, where a man has multiple wives, polyandry, in which a woman has multiple husbands, and group marriage, where a family consists of multiple husbands and wives. Of these different types of polygamy, polygyny is definitely the most popular of the three. In America, the practice of any form of polygamy is illegal and due to this law, many adherents of the lifestyle stay hidden ("What is Polygamy?"). Polygamy became an issue in the United States in the year 1852 when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the LDS Church, made it so that plural marriage became a part of its religious doctrine. However, due to the storm of controversy that followed this movement, in 1890 the Mormon Church officially abandoned the practice. The Mormon’s who disagreed with the movement broke away from the Mormon Church and became known as Fundamentalist Mormons. Although the practice was almost unheard of in regions such as the Midwest, Northeast and South, in the Western portion of the United States, polygyny marriage is still prevalent. Those who are found to be practicing the belief are fined and sometimes are forced to split up with the rest of their families. For this reason many remain in the dark about their lifestyle, considering the severity of the consequences ("History of Fundamentalist Mormons"). However, recently many families have come out of hiding and proclaimed to the world that they are a practicing polygamist family, raising the question: is it right for the government to tell people who they can and cannot marry?
The Western Religious leaders and moralists believe only one spouse for life is the highest form of marriage. Some of the most "primitive" peoples are strictly monogamous in their ideals, while some "highly advanced" cultures have moved away from the stri...
Polygamy is becoming apart of the question, Is this is an alternative lifestyle that should be allowed? There are television shows and criminal cases about polygamy ( Kiesbye). Some common tv shows about polygamy are Sister Wives and Big Love. Since this is a new upcoming type of marriage the tv shows are showing all the good parts about polygamy ,or “fluffing” it up, rather than show any negatives aspects about it. There are multiple things associated with polygamy not just the side where all the family members are happy. There is a darker side to polygamy that the media has not been showng. Polygamy is deleterious to marriage and society because women are treated horribly unequally and horribly during marriage, children are abused, and
Polygamy is defined as the condition or practice of having more than one spouse at a time. Though it has existed in many cultures throughout the world, polygamy is still very prevalent in most Islamic societies today. There are however several guidelines laid out in Islamic law governing the practice. Here we will examine the practice of polygamy in Islam and those laws which govern its legality.
“From this moment, I, take you, as my best friend for life. I pledge to honor, encourage, and support you through our walk together. I promise to provide for your needs and always make you a priority in my life. With every beat of my heart, I will love you. This is my solemn vow” (Daversa). This vow is an example of words expressed between a man and woman on their wedding day as they face one another and declare their love in front of family and friends. However, when the same man says these words on more than one occasion to different women, then the validity is called into question. Monogamy is the practice or state of being married to, or having a sexual relationship with one person at a time (Little et. al. 1275). Although rare, monogamous relationships can be observed among animals in the wild. Beavers, which mate for life, use their union as a survival tool to construct and maintain their dams (Caraza). While humans are considered animals, they have developed beyond their counterparts to develop a whole set of complicated emotions - love, jealousy, rage, and depression. Generally, animals have no need for emotional fulfillment. Their brains do not have the capacity to house these feelings that humans have come to develop. Humans, on the other hand, have emotional needs, and among these are to express love and to receive love in return. Man's greatest fear is loneliness, and monogamy helps give humans that deep, emotional connection with another human being that we all need to survive (Becker 34). Monogamy provides individuals with emotional and physical stability that cannot be achieved with alternatives to monogamy.
In today’s society the assumption asserts that there must be only two adults integrated in a relationship, however in polygamous environments, having more than one spouse is traditional. Some may argue that Polygamy is simply just an alternate lifestyle. This, however, ceases to be true. Young girls are being forced to marry older men and sometimes relatives. Little boys are often abandoned because it appears to be competition for older men. Children are victims of sexual and physical abuse. Whereas, for women, they generally become stripped of their money and experience competition against the multiple wives a husband. Although Polygamy is viewed as immoral by society, the main focus point should be saving young children and women because