Why Not Polygamy?
by Cheryl Mendelson, Quillette:
Polygamy is a criminal offense throughout the Western world. Would making it legal be progress?
In the 19th century, Mormon polygamy shocked the American public, and Utah was only granted statehood on the condition that it prohibit it forever. Today, 80 percent of Americans still think it’s wrong according to a 2020 Gallup poll, but that number is trending downwards. In Canada, a 2018 Ipsos poll found that 36 percent of respondents approved of decriminalizing polygamy. Polyamory and polygamy are both gaining mainstream media respect, and are often treated as equivalent, but they aren’t. Legalization of polygamy has long been a cause aided by reality TV and TV dramas. A blog post at the Daily Kos in 2013:
Rarely does a reality TV show open your eyes to your own prejudices. Sister Wives is that rare exception. Kody Brown and his four wives are fundamental[ist] Mormons living a polygamous lifestyle. Over the past year I’ve watched the Browns marry wife #4, raise their kids, deal with police investigations, and move to Las Vegas. They’ve really changed how I thought about polygamy.
Court cases, including one brought by Kody Brown and his wives, have sought legalization. In 2020, Utah passed a law that decriminalized polygamy, but few voices have been heard wondering if Utah is meeting its obligation to “prohibit” it.
Legalization gets support not only from polygamous religious sects, but also from some scholars, lawyers, philosophers, and cultural critics representing a wide span of political, moral, and religious attitudes. Pop science lends credence to these views by describing monogamy as a bad fit for biological human nature and a potent source of personal misery. Supporters point out that men can have scores of babies by scores of women and walk away, while women can have only a small number of babies—as many with one man as with 20—and must feed and care for them.
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