Question

3) Discuss your own point of view on polygamous marriage arrangements. You may wish to think about last week’s readings regarding love and open marriages, for example, or serial monogamy. What do you think of the fact that in America, a man could have an affair with many women and even have many children out of wedlock and not be considered a criminal, whereas “polygamy” seems threatening to the authorities? And finally, do you think people should have the right to live in polygamous family units in America? Do you think the government has the right to ban certain forms of marriage? Why or why not?

Answer 1

In most of the societies, marriage is considered to be the law of the government while social norms differ in terms of live-in relationship, consented sex etc. This would mean that people in the individualistic societies would be able to have sex, bear children and leave without any legal complications. Even in consenting sexual partners or live in relationships, one cannot have an affair with one without formally breaking with the other. However, government would only consider marriage as the only thing that would bind individuals legally. This would mean that one cannot have multiple wives at the same time and one cannot marry another without divorcing the one with whom one is already married. Thus, it wouldn’t be possible for the government to make monogamy as a legal factor because people would be always people as they would soon become jealous and one would have many children for which the government may need to provide financial support etc.

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