Components of Open Marriage & Polyamory and the Ethics Thereof

Polygamy is the practice or custom of having more than one wife or husband at the same time. Polyandry is a form of polygamy where a woman can marry more than one man at the same time, and polygyny is another form of polygamy where a man is allowed to have more than one wife. Polygamy is more known than polyandry. Polygamy is permitted in countries like Australia, Afghanistan, Iran, and Africa, and in other countries like the United States, England, Spain, and Mexico it is not permitted. Many view Polygamy as a sexual desire and satisfaction to be with more than just one man or woman, but for many cultural reasons, man and woman may have more than one wife or husband. As discussed in the video, the meaning of love & polygamy, the positive outcomes of having more than one wife or husband is so they can be provided each other with help.

This article surprised me due to the fact that the idea that a wife can have more than one husband never crossed my mind. I had been aware of men having more than one wife, but never a wife having more than one husband. This completely opposes other cultures that I have learned about because in most cultures, men are the dominant power. This article suggests the opposite, that women actually acquire more power to those in other cultures. The idea of a polyandry type of marriage always interested me since I had been taught my whole life that, “love conquers all.” I had been raised with the idea that people settle with only one

Today, alternative long-term relationships are growing in times in heterosexual and LGBTQ relationships. Cohabitation is defined by “Recent Changes in Family Structure” as quote: “an intimate relationship that includes a common living place and which exists without the benefit of legal, cultural, or religious sanction.” Between 2005 and 2009 2/3 of relationships approximately were preceded by cohabitation (“Rise of Cohabitation” 2014.) This arrangement is less committed and therefore it takes longer to end, without much emotional devastation of a pricey divorces. Most marriages still begin with cohabitation. However, it is becoming less and less likely that cohabitation will end in a marriage. Marriage is still common in today’s culture, with approximately 60.25 million married couples in 2016 (“Number of married couples in the United States from 1960 to 2016 (in millions)” 2016.) This is evident why it is killing the nuclear family standard. People are having less desire to fully commit to a marriage in the first place. 1950 social standards would have never accepted an unmarried couple as a part of a normal life so only can a legal marriage constitutes the ideal set forth. Another, way to break the standard is remove some components.

Could you imagine living in a world where it is acceptable for a man to marry more than one woman and be open about it? Not many can and that is why the practice of polygamy such is seen as taboo. The families usually live very private lives and they do not interact with a lot of the rest of America due to anti-bigamy society we live in. Polygamy is the practice of being married to more than one person at the same time (Webster 2015). This is not to be confused with an open relationship or an open marriage. This topic has been viewed and deemed as controversial for many years. As a practice that was not accepted in the public eye, it recently has gained more attention with mainstream media and culture. With shows on television such as “Sister

Polygamy is the case in which a man or a woman has multiple spouses. One branch of polygamy is termed “polygyny”, which is when “one man is married to several wives” (Zeitzen 3).

People who enter into polyamorous relationships also report an “At first… but then” experience. At first they believe that there is something wrong with them or that they are interested in cheating on their partners. After doing some research they find that there are others like them, and that they are not as abnormal as they originally thought. They discover that there are more people out there like them, and that it is possible to enter into multiple, honest relationships (Barker, 2005). More people might be interested in polyamorous relationships if they were not afraid of the repercussions placed on them by society. People are afraid of ideas that go against cultural norms, and nonmonogamous relationships definitely push the boundaries. They might view polyamorous relationships as more realistic for their lifestyles and how they feel about relationships, but are too afraid to enter into a polyamorous relationship because they are pressured by their culture to participate in exclusive relationships. Also, many people who do engage in polyamorous relationships are not actually “out” about their relationships or sexual interests. Very small numbers of people are actually open about their nonmonogamous relationships either sexually or emotionally (Barker, 2005). Many people are

The first element is the different types of polyamorous relationships and to explain this I use an article call This is my Partner, and this is my…Partner’s Partner: Constructing a Polyamorous Identity in a Monogamous World and also I used information from the Polyamorous Society main website, where they create campaigns and educate people about this lifestyle. Both of this articles explain the different categories of polyamorous, primary, secondary, third, triads, quads, etc. Also, they explain the difference and characteristics of each type of relationship and they provide additional information about what polyamory was and what kind of people tend to be polyamorist. I used another article call There Aren't Words For What We Do Or How We Feel So We Have To Make Them Up': Constructing Polyamorous Languages In A Culture of Compulsory Monogamy to describe the reason why polyamorist create their own language and why they are against the language that monogamous use. The article call Situational Sexual Behaviors: The Ideological Work Of Moving Toward Polyamory In Communal Living Groups, I used to describe the community that polyamorous create for people who solely practice their lifestyle. Also, this article provided with three main reasons why they did not wanted to live in monogamous communities, which I has stated in my paper. All of this sources gave me detail information and quotes that allowed me to prove that they were characteristics of

Pullman’s context of the blog breaks down the lifestyles of both polygamy and polyamory. His main purpose throughout is to educate the general public the confusions about polyamory and cheating. Polyamory in his consideration is, “any form of married polyamory”. Which is any combination of hetero or homosexual relationships in either member. Most people claim polyamory is a form of cheating or swingers. Pullman makes a great comparison within the blog of cheating verse the open prior agreed relationship between the primary relationship. Cheating encompasses the nondisclosure of an intimate relationship to one party where as in

Reasons why everyone should be against open marriage is because you married the person that you wanted to love and spend the rest of your life with. You are breaking the marital vows. When marrying someone you are making a commitment to be loyal. According to J.B. Chachila, “What we commit to be not just to take on that person, to uphold that person’s dream, and to meet that person’s needs. We actually commit to becoming one that person.” When people have a open marriage is when one companion breaks the pre established rules of marriage. Open marriages show that your love and commitment should be questioned because why marry someone when all they want to do is go out and do things with other people while married. If two people are perfect for each other than they shouldn’t be in an open marriage because they are together because they are supposedly perfect for each other. If you aren’t happy with the person you are currently married to then what was the point of marrying them in the first place.

Polygamist Marriage is the union including more than two partners. There is a more specific breakdown of Polygamy. Polygyny is a marriage between one man and multiple women. Polyandry is the union of one woman and multiple men. And Lastly Polyamory represents a marriage having both multiple husbands and wives. And despite the fact that Polygamist marriage in illegal in the United States, 30,000 to 50,000 people are living in plural families

I’m not sure if Polyamorous unions should be legal or not but if I had to choose I would say yes. It’s a fairly new thing to me and I was first introduced in a movie called Castillos de Carton and it’s about a threesome relationship between two men and a woman, the relationship worked fine for the three of them and although it doesn’t work out in the end because again it’s a movie and it has to have its drama the depiction of a relationship between three people working was presented quite well. Sure, it’s something that seems scandalous especially to a traditionally bred person like me but just like I was able to embrace the idea of there being genuine love between members of the same sex this I could also get used to. However, I do have an

The effect this practice has had on woman who marry a man who is a polygamist has shown she is not happy sharing her husband. Many woman think they are ok with the idea of sharing a husband with multiple women going into the marriage but soon realize it is not such a good idea.

Iturriaga and Saguy (2017) found three arguments posed by plural wives concerning why they feel polygamy is superior to monogamy: (a) monogamous men are perceived as needy, immature, and monopolizing of the monogamous woman’s time, (b) plural marriage provides female companionship and a sense of sisterhood, and (c) polygamy allows more time for education, leisure, and employment opportunities. The respondents report having an abundance of personal time in which they pursue their own interests independent from their spouses and sister wives. These women report that they have these freedoms as a direct result of their plural unions. They also share the opinion that a little distance is a powerful tool in creating successful marriages. For example, if a wife spends two nights per week with her husband, versus all nights spent together for monogamous couples, the marriage will not become stagnant over time (Iturriaga and Saguy,

If marriage is the institution of monogamy, these examples give a quick idea about why it is impossible to discuss monogamy and its norm without thinking about marriage and the continuity of its structuring, marginalizing and oppressive mechanisms as

Polygamy is the “practice whereby a person is married to more than one spouse at the same time” (Zeitzen 2008, 3)