Coarse: A Blog

Is there any evidence to suggest that polygynous families are more abusive or are less loving than monogamous ones? No, in fact monogamous relationships lead the record for divorce, spousal abuse, and child abuse. Half of all monogamous marriages end in divorce, talk about the pot calling the kettle black, how can a group of people for whom half of their marriages fail, presume to lecture anyone about marriage and family relationships?

While increasingly liberal social ideologues agitate for the recognition and the conference of “rights” to marry for homosexuals, few consider the plight of today’s polygynous families who comprise at least several thousand in Utah alone (and at last count more than 40,000 in the wider USA). Individuals critical of the homosexual life style and adoption by homosexuals are labelled homophobic, bigoted, intolerant prejudiced. Yet while intolerance of homosexuality is condemned (a life style shown to increase the likelihood of contracting STDs, decrease the life span, and cause literally a plethora of social dysfunctions) polygyny is routinely denounced by liberals and even so-called conservatives as wrong and evil.
What are people afraid of? It is easy to judge polygyny when you don’t know any families or individuals who practice it and we can only refer to this ill informed judgement as a form of prejudice.
How many who condemn polygyny know even a single person who practices it? How many of them have ever spoken with someone who favours polygyny? Xenophobia is defined as a fear of strangers or foreigners, does not polyphobia fall into this category?
Perhaps if the monogamous community would take the time to meet those who practice polygyny just as they have with Gays and Lesbians, and to try to understand them as human beings they would gain new insight and appreciation for their lifestyle.

Polygyny actually has many benefits, having multiple wives makes it more likely that children will not be left home alone or with day care to be watched by strangers. The possibility of bringing in extra incomes while still having a stay at home parent or parental figure and the ability for a greater number of women to experience marriage considering that women out number men are also other considerations. Is it really fair to condemn many women to loneliness and singleness and to deprive them of motherhood simply because of a modern cultural taboo against polygyny? Looking at the question from this perspective I am baffled as to why feminists are not outspoken supporters of polygyny. In addition to the above mentioned benefits polygyny also enables a man to have a greater number of children faster.

While most modern Christians condemn polygyny today, they would do well to dust off their bibles and reconsider their position, the fact of the matter is that Abraham (whom the Bible refers to as righteous) as well as King David and Solomon all practiced polygyny, and there is nothing anywhere in the New Testament saying it is abolished or prohibited. In the Old Testament it is commanded that not one word or verse be added to God’s law, but isn’t that exactly what the Christian polyphobes do when they say polygyny is a sin against God? The Old Testament even says that Yahweh the God of Israel has two wives, Israel and Judah, can we possibly get a stronger endorsement for polygyny from Scripture than that?
The Protestant churches simply inherited their opposition to polygyny from the Roman Catholic Church, and would do well to re-examine the issue in light of scripture and apart from cultural and social conditioning. The Catholics took their opposition to polygyny from Rome, it has no basis in the Bible and is alien to Israelite culture.

As for those liberals, secular humanists and “progressives” who tolerate every kind of life style in the world except polygyny, surely the question must be asked why single out polygynous families for persecution?
Do not polygynous families have the same right to pursue the relationship of their choice that anyone else does?
The next time you hear about homophobia, islamophobia, xenophobia prejudice or bigotry remember that Polyphobia is equally intolerant, ignorant, hateful and insensitive to most of the world’s cultures which have observed polygyny at some point, including today. That includes geographic regions and cultures as diverse as that of Northern European, the Middle Eastern, Indian, African, Asian and Native American.
To condemn polygyny is xenophobic, it is polyphobia and it is intolerant.
Help fight polyphobia, please take a humane stand in defence of human rights, stop the hate, stop the bigotry, stop the persecution.