# I've decided polygamy is an excellent way to raise a family **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 15, 2010, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218 "2010-10-15T05:53:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/301 "2010-10-20T03:49:22Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Gosh… you mean everyone who has children knows what they are doing and their opinions and ideas should be trusted by virtue of the fact that they fucked each other and didn’t abort? Everyone who has been a parent knows more about it than _you_ do. > [@](#): > > Well, if that’s the case then I think you’re in a bit of a bind, Dio, because Kody Brown and his four wives have sixteen children between them, so I think you are in no position to argue that they don’t know what they’re doing, are you? This does not compute. First of all, I _am_ a parent, which gives me perspective that you don’t have, and second of all, the issue is YOU pronouncing all monogamous parents as being inferior to this tool with a harem. YOU are not qualified to have any opinion at all about parenting. > [@](#): > > But on the other hand, there’s Susan Smith, isn’t there? Not to mention the millions of fathers who rape their children…the millions of fathers and mothers who beat and abuse and starve their children. The millions of fathers and mothers who neglect their children… How do these cases make you more knowledgable about parenting than those of us in this thread who are parents? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/302 "2010-10-20T03:52:25Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > How can you possibly respect a man who has thirteen children and spends hours every day “courting” a new wife? My husband and I spent over two hours today just with our one child. We helped her with her homework, fed her a snack and dinner, gave her a bath and supervised her at play before bedtime. Korey is a horrible parent who clearly spends almost no time with his poor kids. Polygamy encourages every male to follow such bad parenting practices. Amen. **Stoid** does not seem to regard the man’s relationship with either his kids or his baby mamas to be very important. Actual love doesn’t seem to count for much. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/303 "2010-10-20T03:52:31Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > How can you possibly respect a man who has thirteen children and spends hours every day “courting” a new wife? My husband and I spent over two hours today just with our one child. We helped her with her homework, fed her a snack and dinner, gave her a bath and supervised her at play before bedtime. Korey is a horrible parent who clearly spends almost no time with his poor kids. Polygamy encourages every male to follow such bad parenting practices. A: I don’t respect Kody Brown, but not because he has 13 kids and courted a new wife, but because I think he’s an idiot. I think he’s emotionally retarded and clueless and I find his personality thoroughly grating. B: Boatloads of Daddys are absolute shit parents, polygamy has nothing at all to do with it. Boatloads of moms are shit parents. The structure of a marriage has nothing to do with it. C: Because I like to keep things accurate, your representation is not. Kody Brown’s courtship of his fourth wife is hardly the crime of the century, considering that for 16 years before that it was him and three wives…taking a few months out for the fourth relationship is no big deal. But his work kept him from his kids for a long time because the distance from his work to his home was so great, which is why they bought a new house much closer to his work, and the result was his spending a great deal more time with his kids. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/304 "2010-10-20T03:54:15Z")
So you admit he’s a shitty father, yet you still maintain that this is an “excellent” arrangement for children? ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/305 "2010-10-20T04:05:35Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Everyone who has been a parent knows more about it than _you_ do. Of course they do… I will never know what it is to be a parent, which means having a child. What it takes _ **to raise a child well** _, producing a happy, emotionally healthy and well-adjustd adult human being is something that is must be learned, and far too few people ever do, because the mere having of children does not teach it. Having children just gives you something to practice on if you actually do learn anything. The fact that you impregnated your wife, kept the child, and have managed to keep it alive is a minimal accomplishment, and in no way demonstrates that you have good parenting skills. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/306 "2010-10-20T04:12:10Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > So you admit he’s a shitty father, yet you still maintain that this is an “excellent” arrangement for children? A: I don’t know whether he’s a shitty father or not.. According to his wives and his kids, he’s a great dad, but since I personally find him so obnoxious it’s difficult to give him any credit for anything. B: Even if Kody Brown were the world’s worst father…that would mean he’s the world’s worst father, not that having multiple wives made him that way. If the parents are good parents, and they are comfortable with polygamy, I think it’s better than monogamy. If the parents are shitty parents, polygamy won’t fix it any more than monogamy will. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/307 "2010-10-20T04:16:03Z")
Not that anyone will pay attention to an outsider this late in the intimate flagellating tête-à-tête you have going for yourselves but; This issue seems no different then prostitution. Does society have the right to limit women they believe are harming themselves or do women have the personal right to do whatever they please. It’s possible to argue misogyny for proponents of both viewpoints. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/308 "2010-10-20T04:18:55Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Of course they do… I will never know what it is to be a parent, which means having a child. > > What it takes _ **to raise a child well** _, producing a happy, emotionally healthy and well-adjustd adult human being is something that is must be learned, and far too few people ever do, because the mere having of children does not teach it. Having children just gives you something to practice on if you actually do learn anything. > > The fact that you impregnated your wife, kept the child, and have managed to keep it alive is a minimal accomplishment, and in no way demonstrates that you have good parenting skills. You don’t know what it takes to raise a child. You don’t know what you’re talking about and I do. You should listen to people who know more than you. I gyuarantee you, I am a much better father and husband than the douche on that show. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/309 "2010-10-20T04:22:49Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > A: I don’t know whether he’s a shitty father or not. I do. > [@](#): > > According to his wives and his kids, he’s a great dad, but since I personally find him so obnoxious it’s difficult to give him any credit for anything. Especially since his girlfriends only say what they’re programmed to say. > [@](#): > > B: Even if Kody Brown were the world’s worst father…that would mean he’s the world’s worst father, not that having multiple wives made him that way. His being a shit head is the reason he has multiple baby mamas (they are not wives), and if he’s the world’s worst father, you can’t really say that’s an “excellent” situation for the children, can you? > [@](#): > > If the parents are good parents, and they are comfortable with polygamy, I think it’s better than monogamy. And that is a stunningly arrogant and ignorant assertion on your part (especially since this “family” has at least one manifestly shitty parents and several unhappy moms). > [@](#): > > If the parents are shitty parents, polygamy won’t fix it any more than monogamy will. And yet you are advocating polygamy to fix it. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/310 "2010-10-20T04:46:08Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I do. > > Especially since his girlfriends only say what they’re programmed to say. Your imagination again. > [@](#): > > His being a shit head is the reason he has multiple baby mamas (they are not wives), Your judgment about polygamy, it has nothing to do with facts. > [@](#): > > and if he’s the world’s worst father, you can’t really say that’s an “excellent” situation for the children, can you? I didn’t say “Being Kody Brown’s child is an excellent way to raise a kid” nor did I say “Being Kody Brown’s child is an excellent situation”. Pay attention, please. > [@](#): > > And that is a stunningly arrogant and ignorant assertion on your part . Nope, just an opinion. > [@](#): > > (especially since this “family” has at least one manifestly shitty parents and several unhappy moms) Only in your head, where no one lives but you. > [@](#): > > And yet you are advocating polygamy to fix it. Not even close. It’s really strange the way you make things up to argue, Dio. I don’t understand what the point is. > [@](#): > > I gyuarantee you, I am a much better father and husband than the douche on that show. Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t. I only know what you say about yourself. You also think you a walking encyclopedia of Rock N Roll that’s never heard of Joe Tex or Laura Nyro. If your assessment of your parenting skills is anything similar, I have to say I’m skeptical. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/311 "2010-10-20T04:49:05Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > This issue seems no different then prostitution. Does society have the right to limit women they believe are harming themselves or do women have the personal right to do whatever they please. > > It’s possible to argue misogyny for proponents of both viewpoints. Hmm. I’d be interested in the argument that women having the personal right to make their own choices is misogyny. I’m not saying it can’t be made, I’m just saying I can’t think of how it would operate. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/312 "2010-10-20T04:56:25Z")
They aren’t making their own choices and a man who views them as unequal by virtue of their sex is misogynist by definition. They are married to a misogynist. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/313 "2010-10-20T06:14:31Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Not that anyone will pay attention to an outsider this late in the intimate flagellating tête-à-tête you have going for yourselves but; > > This issue seems no different then prostitution. Does society have the right to limit women they believe are harming themselves or do women have the personal right to do whatever they please. > > It’s possible to argue misogyny for proponents of both viewpoints. (Frankly, at this point I’m just ignoring Stoid and Dio. Even though one is clearly right and the other is clearly wrong (;)) they both ran out of new things to say about 50 posts ago.) Sitnam’s is an interesting question because I think the parallels between prostitution and polygamy are quite strong in this case. Just as there are different kinds of prostitution (on one side Eliot Spitzer high-class generally non-coerced prostitute and on the other a human trafficked sex slave) there are different kinds of polygamy. Polygamy as it’s practiced by Fundamentalist Mormons in the United States is much further toward the human trafficking side of the scale. Now, this family seems less coercive and apparently doesn’t live in a compound, but it’s still a disturbing lifestyle that relies on religious fanaticism, insularity, and often, outright coercion to sustain it. Once these problems are addressed, I’ll be open to consensual Fundamentalist Mormon polygamy. Not before that. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/314 "2010-10-20T10:09:24Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Not really, polygamy is concurrent relationships, you are talking about serial. Someone paying child support to women who are raising their biological children… that is in fact a concurrent relationship. It may not be a concurrent sexual relationship (or actually, it might very well be), but in every other respect it is entirely concurrent and polygamous. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/315 "2010-10-20T10:43:39Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Seems pretty obvious: everything good that parents provide is multiplied in terms of love, guidance, time, etc. Many siblings, which most people report to be a wonderful thing, except when it drains parental time and energy, only with multiple parents, that’s far less likely to happen! However I do believe it was mentioned that in general the plural marriages have each mother and child/ren in their own apartment/house. How is it good for the kid to know that he only gets Daddy 1 or 2 days of the week, no matter what they would prefer or need? Is it fair for daddy to unilaterally change the schedule to be there on their birthday instead of at the normally scheduled home? Who’s school play does he go see? Who’s soccer game? Somehow it doesn’t seem like a fair shake for the kid/s to me. What id the woman is having a bad patch, I can at least depend on mrAru holding me and snuggling me when I am sick or in pain. She would have to either get him to interrupt the schedule, or get one of her sister wives to interrupt HER life and come over unless one of the kids was old enough to help out. Last time i had surgery, mrAru took the week off and when I had a tumor removed and needed the bandages changed several times per day for the first month, he took leave from the Navy and was there for me every day, 24 hours a day [unless he was out getting a prescription or groceries] and he didn’t have to interrupt any schedule with anybody else. Sorry, he is pretty much that scum that the unmarried slum dwellers call a baby daddy. He wants to dip his wick in as many women as possible and have minimal interaction with each one. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/316 "2010-10-20T12:52:21Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > None of these women are restricted or obligated to do or be or accept anything at all **because they are female.** They are restricted and obligated because they \*\*\*chose to be \*\*\* when they _ **chose** _ to be in this relationship which they were very much aware meant one man could have many wives. > > Nothing and no one imposed anything on them. **They imposed it on themselves.** Stoid, all the text formatting in the world won’t erase the fact that they chose this because they believe that it’s a woman’s role to share a husband, and not the husband’s role to share a wife. I don’t give two flips if they chose the lifestyle, it’s still sexist bullshit. > [@](#): > > You and your husband agreed to a number of things both explicitly and implicitly at the start of your relationship. Including the fact that you would be monogamous. You can’t UNagree to it, at least not unilaterally. That was the decision that made you comfortable and you are entitled to it. Sure, that was what we agreed to, we both agreed to it, that’s the point. And there’s nothing in our relationship that’s been decided based on the fact that I’m female and he’s not. Except childbirth and breastfeeding. I must confess that I was stuck with those things. > [@](#): > > This is the decision that made them comfortable and they are entitled to it. Of course they’re entitled to it, but that doesn’t mean I have to think it’s a good choice. Look, a woman can choose to have 20 children and make tater tot casserole on TV. A woman can choose for her husband to beat her every day. A woman can choose to shoot smack. A woman can choose to do a lot of things that aren’t particularly healthy. > [@](#): > > All of you are right, because all of you made your own decisions about the way you wanted to live your lives and conduct your relationships. Here’s a key, though. We made our decisions, and we can unmake them if need be. Can these women? > [@](#): > > But I’ll bet the Browns are actually walking a better walk to the talk of teaching their children to make their own choices and lead their own lives the way they want to, because I’ll bet you and your husband, if you have kids, would not dream of adopting a “Whatever makes you happy” attitude if your daughter decided to enter a plural marriage, whereas the Browns and their children have all expressed in multiple ways the fact that their children can live their lives as they see fit. > > You keep tripping over your own personal value system and it’s making it almost impossible for you to allow for or respect that other people’s can differ _ **without being bad.** _ I DO think other people’s can differ without being bad. But in the case of polygamy, I think it’s really really hard for it not to be bad, and I think the Brown family is not a case where it’s proven to be good. > [@](#): > > AND… the fact that they are not living in perfect 24/7 bliss on all fronts proves only one thing: they are flawed human beings having to compromise and navigate differences in their relationship the same way virtually everyone else on earth has to, that’s all. I think we’re watching a different show. I think it’s fairly obvious that Christine doesn’t like Robyn and didn’t want her in the family. I think it’s obvious that because of the arrangement and the TV show, she didn’t have much of a say in making it not happen. I think it’s obvious that Meri needs a shrink. I think Janelle seems pretty happy, I’ll give you that one, but really I think it’s because she doesn’t care. She’s the one who’s a career person, and she’s out of the house 12 hours a day. Where you get this idea that this show portrayed minor bumps in the road, like everyone else has, I do not know. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/317 "2010-10-20T13:09:28Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > A: I don’t respect Kody Brown, but not because he has 13 kids and courted a new wife, but because I think he’s an idiot. I think he’s emotionally retarded and clueless and I find his personality thoroughly grating. After the first episode or maybe even the second, I was positively disposed to this family as you seem to be. Here, you’ve maybe hit on the true niggling, underlying reason that I was turned off. Kody DOES seem like a clueless idiot in a lot of ways. He DOES seem emotionally stunted, much like he’s one of the kids. And I don’t think this something you want to model for children, either. My personal conclusion is that the complicated power dynamic is BOUND to result in something that’s not ideal. Either the man has to be a very dominating person in order to maintain any kind of presence in the household, or the women collude together (consciously or unconsciously) to make him irrelevant, which is kind of what has seemed to happen here. I don’t think either of those outcomes is acceptable within a family dynamic. It’s not good for the adults, and it’s SURE not good for the kids. And, true, every relationship has power struggles of some kind, but when the players start out equal, they have a chance of keeping it equal in the long term. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/318 "2010-10-20T14:44:30Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > (Frankly, at this point I’m just ignoring Stoid and Dio. Even though one is clearly right and the other is clearly wrong (;)) they both ran out of new things to say about 50 posts ago.) Well said. > [@](#): > > Sitnam’s is an interesting question because I think the parallels between prostitution and polygamy are quite strong in this case. Just as there are different kinds of prostitution (on one side Eliot Spitzer high-class generally non-coerced prostitute and on the other a human trafficked sex slave) there are different kinds of polygamy. Sounds very reasonable. Are **you** sure you are in the right thread? > [@](#): > > Polygamy as it’s practiced by Fundamentalist Mormons in the United States is much further toward the human trafficking side of the scale. Now, this family seems less coercive and apparently doesn’t live in a compound, but it’s still a disturbing lifestyle that relies on religious fanaticism, insularity, and often, outright coercion to sustain it. Once these problems are addressed, I’ll be open to consensual Fundamentalist Mormon polygamy. Not before that. I agree with the assessment that Fundamentalist Mormon polygamy is unhealthy. However, I don’t know if it’s possible for Fundamentalist Mormon polygamy to solve these problems. Mainstream Mormonism in the 1800s was fairly similar, and most of the women did not like it. It look the Federal government to abolish the practice, and I can’t see how it could have been reformed. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/319 "2010-10-20T16:11:08Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > **DrDeth** , I don’t think it’s fair to quibble over such a small detail – she was raised as a Mormon. Not as a member of the Mormon Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints aka LDS. How do I know this? Becuase if she had, she’d have been a Member\* up to the day she openly admitted she practiced Polygamy, and then she’d have been excommunicated from the Church. Since this show is a Media Circus, can you see any way such a public announcement and excommunication would not have made it into the news? \*\*“Sister Wife Excommunicated by Church!!!” \*\*would be in the news in minutes. Like I said, she was likely a member of one of the other small “mormon Fundamentalist” cult offshoots, all of whom practice poly to some extent- that’s why they left in the first place. (\*It’s hard to unilaterally drop your membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints aka LDS, _they_ will often consider you a member even after you may no longer think you are) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218/320 "2010-10-20T16:22:53Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > (Polygamy as it’s practiced by Fundamentalist Mormons in the United States is much further toward the human trafficking side of the scale. Now, this family seems less coercive and apparently doesn’t live in a compound, but it’s still a disturbing lifestyle that relies on religious fanaticism, insularity, and often, outright coercion to sustain it. Once these problems are addressed, I’ll be open to consensual Fundamentalist Mormon polygamy. . They have seemingly picked this family- and perhaps Kody was even “volunteered”- for that very reason. This is not a typical “mormon fundy” family- the wives aren’t all wearing gingham, they aren’t all living in a compound, there’s no apparent incest and certainly no pedophilia evident. It’s as “normal” as a “mormon fundy” poly family can be. I think the idea was to try to get a somewhat “normal” family out there to fight the very poor (and well deserved) PR rep the “mormon fundy” folks got due to those raids and stuff. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-decided-polygamy-is-an-excellent-way-to-raise-a-family/557218.md?page=17)