Canadian Government-Sponsored Study Urges Polygamy Legalization

Ugh. Just goes to show how stupid Canadian men are.

What kind of an idiot would want TWO wives?!?! (or more!?!)

Sheesh. Doing two chicks at once is a different story. Being married to two different chicks? That's just stupid.

I've been married for ten years to one woman. If it were two women, I'd have blown my head off by now.

 

Strangely enough it is the other way around. The younger wives are usually strapped with more of the household work.

That looks like a big assumption that because something is contractually negotiated it is ok.

 

Ahh but I'm wondering how many wives I'll need so I can quit work and lounge around the pool all day... or work in the garage... or play video games... or surf CF.net. Now you see my angle?

 

I'm not saying its OK, in terms of polygamy, I'm saying that I believe government should get out of the marriage business and leave it up to people who want to get married to determine what sort of legal relationship they want.

 

Unfortunately its not going to work out that way. More likely you will have two wives nagging you about how you're wasting your time on videogames and that gawdawful Clutchfans when the garage is a mess.

 

I understand. I'm saying the state/society has an interest in protecting people who may otherwise suffer some foreseeable damage. Polygamy is a good case of this. A woman may, because of cultural pressures, agree to be the second or third or fourth wife of a man. But because of the foreseeable psychological effects on that wife, society has an interest in stopping such a union.

From The Contribution of Polygamy to Women's Oppression and Impoverishment: An Argument for its Prohibition

International conventions provide powerful moral force to fuel efforts and support local activists in creating rights for people. Although national constitutions protecting the rights considered above may attempt to provide protection for the privacy of the home, the abolition of “private” [184] practices such as polygamy is still allowed under some countries’ constitutions and not yet prohibited by international law despite the fact that polygamy clearly infringes on the rights and freedoms of women and children. As has been shown, polygamy contributes to severe health conditions in women, thus making its ban necessary for public health purposes. In addition, polygamy undermines public morals because it creates stereotypes of women as subordinates, which is clearly against the state’s policy of promoting equality between the genders. Furthermore, polygamy infringes on the rights of freedoms of women to equality in marriage and harms the rights of children to receive adequate parenting and nurturing. Therefore, a state is clearly justified in banning the practice.

Activists and NGOs have invoked the legal obligations of states under international human rights agreements to challenge polygamy, customary and religious laws and demand that states become accountable for condoning continued discrimination and violence against women. As reported in its official statement to the Vienna World Conference: [185]

In spite of the ratification of international and regional human rights instruments, States still maintain laws and practices which discriminate against women. Selective traditions and customs are used by States to perpetuate discrimination against women and condone it in the private sphere, contrary to obligations freely assumed by States and to the expectations of the international community. This is particularly true in the field of access to land and other economic rights, legal status and capacity and rights within the family. [186]

The language of "women's human rights" strengthens the visibility and legitimacy of such demands. It also extends the accountability of states into supposedly "private" domains, as seen most clearly in pressure by WiLDAF and its member organizations to reform so called "family law." However, for a variety of reasons beyond the scope of this paper women in any given country do not necessarily agree about the harm of cultural practices. With regard to polygamy there are, for instance, some Muslim women, "either on their own volition or on the demands of their Islamic leaders," who supported polygamy and in the case of Uganda "provided the government with an escape route" not to ban it. [187]

As long as polygamy is allowed, women in such states particularly the poor and uneducated, will continue to live with increased risk for health impairments, impoverishment, and unfulfilled marital relationships. Women’s rights advocates must therefore continue to take up legal cases and advance legal arguments that can help eliminate this harmful practice which clearly violates their own national constitutions and international human rights law.

Indeed, it is true that it has been difficult to translate the normative prescriptions of international human rights instruments into practical realities for women, due to institutional and enforcement problems in the human rights regime, and the lesser importance granted to social and economic rights in the human rights regime. [188] However, international human rights norms are nevertheless powerful moral forces that local groups can continue to use to pressure the international religious and political community to ban polygamy.

 

I think universal polygamy and communal parenting would benefit children if it was the social norm. No more dysfunctional beatings with a drunk parent or missed baseball games.

It'd definitely be weird as hell, but I was raised in a monogamous family. In theory, it seems to click as long as the women get to marry many times too.

 

Hey! You do it your way I'll try mine.