I'll be the first to admit I only skimmed this article.... but..... isnt it Janelle's mother who is married to Kody's father? Janelle's mom is his second wife.Quote:
Originally Posted by Poppy Fields
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I'll be the first to admit I only skimmed this article.... but..... isnt it Janelle's mother who is married to Kody's father? Janelle's mom is his second wife.Quote:
Originally Posted by Poppy Fields
I have never understood the prosecution of polygomists. Normally there is (1) legal marriage, the others are usually in the eyes of their god. I am sure they are not filing income tax returns saying each is married to Kody..they would lose too much money. Just because people decide to live together, does not constitute bigamy. As long as they are consenting adults....not forced. We do not hear of women having more than 1 husband....I think we learn with the first one. j/k
Quote:
Originally Posted by captain
This is what I have never understood. He is legally married to one and the others are basically girlfriends but called wives. The woman he is married to just allows him to call the other ones wives or am I crazy in my view point.
I totally get that FLDS have used polygamy as a tool to oppress and control the women of their communities. I understand that women have been sexually abused and had to flee their homes, sometimes leaving their children behind. I sympathize completely with their anger and heartbreak.
It's not for the same reasons that the Browns practice it. I believe in a woman's right to choose across the board, so to speak, and if they choose to share a husband so be it. I find Kody far less objectionable than men who have children with multiple partners and fail to provide for them afterwards, emotionally & financially. I wish Utah would invest their time pursuing those people instead.
We get a little bit of an edited glimpse into their day-to-day lives. Not enough, in my opinion, to make judgements about their emotional issues or their true feelings.
Basically, I pay more attention to their kids than I do to them. They seem healthy to me, physically. Pretty smiles, humourous attitudes, normal squabbles coupled with a lot of loyalty and affection.
Whatever these spouses seem to be doing wrong, it's obvious to me that they are doing much that's right.
The way I've heard it explained is that in some states, even though the man is only legally married to one of the women, if he and any other women live like they're married and "hold themselves out to be married" then he can be prosecuted for polygamy. In a way, this is almost, sort of like the concept of "common law marriage" in which a couple isn't legally married, but live together "as man and wife" for 7 or more years, at which point they are then legally "married" in the eyes of the law in certain states.Quote:
Originally Posted by captain
Question: Back to the 'husband' being prosecuted for polygamy --- I wonder why only the man is prosecuted, but the women aren't prosecuted. The man hasn't done anything different from or worse than what the women are doing. . .
Probably because the woman is not married to 2 husbands, therefore since only married to 1 she would not fall in the bigamy category. Just an assumption. Where I live if you and your partner file a joint tax return you will be considered to be common law married, otherwise it is not recognized.
I have pretty strong opinions about this, but I'm setting them aside for a moment because I have a question that I need to ask (and I hope someone can answer)...
What percentage of these kids have an opportunity to attend college or university? How many of them actually do? Conversely, how many kids raised in a polygamist family marry as soon as the get out of highschool?
I doubt you will find statistics about the kids. Only what the community/church/state wants to put out there. It would be interesting to know.
The biggest issue I have with the practice of polygamy is the older men taking younger and younger girls for their extra wives. Far too young, and never given a choice. It's disgusting. Consenting adults who choose to live as the family on this show lives, well as long as they providing for themselves and aren't harming anyone else, then that's their business, IMO. The other issue I have is how these polygamous communities often abandon their young men, because they are competition for the older men and there aren't enough wives to go around. These kids are left to fend for themselves outside of the community they grew up in, and often it has disastrous results.
Reading Under the Banner of Heaven was a fascinating glimpse into the mindset of some in the Mormon/polygamous community. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. By Jon Krakauer.