Should Polygamy Be Accepted? | Teen Ink

Should Polygamy Be Accepted?

October 24, 2015
By Aidann-Z SILVER, Flower Mound, Texas
Aidann-Z SILVER, Flower Mound, Texas
6 articles 0 photos 0 comments

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Polygamy,

The practice of relationships or marriages that involve more than two participants, also known as plural relationships/marriages.  Many people, when confronted about the subject, seem uncomfortable about the idea of it. Why is that? People who have spoken for the legalization of plural marriage explain that "Progressives who reject the case for legal polygamy often don’t really appear to have their hearts in it. They seem uncomfortable voicing their objections, clearly unused to being in the position of rejecting the appeals of those who would codify non-traditional relationships in law. They are, without exception, accepting of the right of consenting adults to engage in whatever sexual and romantic relationships they choose, but oppose the formal, legal recognition of those relationships." Whether you agree with this statement or not, the real question still stands: Should polygamy be accepted in society? I believe that, yes, relationships from hetero to homosexual to plural should all be accepted in our modern, growing society. Over the years we have questioned what is right and what is wrong in relationships, but two very important parts of being in a relationship have always been known; consent to love, and loving yourself and one another.

As stated above, consent is one of the key things in a relationship. When discussing polygamy, many people seem to associate the idea with being unfaithful; which is a ridiculous thing in itself. In fact, consent in a plural relationship is the major difference from being unfaithful. Consent is the agreement to do something, permission given, something that was talked over and all parties included had no rejections. Unfaithfulness, or cheating, on the other hand is quite the opposite. Which leads to another argument over the fact; whereas polygamy is taboo in our society, why is 'cheating' more acceptable? When polygamy is never to be mentioned, normal conversations start up over unfaithfulness. Have we as a society become so numb to non-consensual relationships that when the subject of a healthy plural relationship comes up people think of it as unnatural? Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that it is time to reevaluate our views on what is good and what is wrong in our community of healthy love and begin living in the age of equality for love and marriage, not just for people of the LGBT community and heterosexuals, but for the people who have been ignored for years.

 

I am more than certain I speak for anyone and everyone who have been in a healthy relationship that loving to the point where we romanticize everything down to our partners' faults is what we all desire in the romantic world. Why should we limit ourselves and others in love when we have come so far already? When we reach out to the public to touch the hearts of our listeners, we speak of love and joy and world peace, but when we mention love all we can say is that we should be able to love people and ourselves freely because love is not a right or a privilege, but it's something part of us, our lives, our function. We are so close to being as accepting of love as we try to make ourselves to be, but we still need to learn that just because you do not have the same stride to be in a plural relationship doesn't make it wrong. In fact, it only means that you are monogamous and someone else is polygamous; and that's ok.

 

Over the years, many people have stood up and stated that marriage should only be for a man and a woman, which has been discussed over and over again. They argue that it's always been that way, and shouldn't change; even after the legalization of same sex marriage. What they leave out, whether they choose to or simply forget, is that no, marriage has been quite flexible way before our time; that includes the norm of having a plural marriage. People speak against the legalization of plural marriages because we would have to “redefine marriage.”. I find that still ridiculous, even after all these years. I believe that we've already redefined marriage, seeing as how before our time marriage was for wealth, for people of the same race, even just for show. Now, we marry out of love and respect for our partners, to have someone to depend on, to take someone with us through the crazy roller coaster of life.

With all that being said, love and marriage between people who are passionate about each other and will always be able to agree upon their decisions should be all that matters when discussions over the topic come up.


The author's comments:

As an assignment for my English class, we were able to pic topics to write about. This one stood out to me and I immediately started to write. I, personally, think it came out well enough to share. 


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