Sister Wives
 

I've been trying to catch this while its on, but I haven't yet.
I'm slightly intrigued. Do they all live together in a non-cult like setting?

Saw them on one of the morning shows today. He is only legally married to his first wife. Had "marriage ceremonies" or some such other nonsense with the others. So the others have no legal rights that come with marriage. From what I understand from the interview, should something happen to hubby, legal wife calls the legal shots. Not an attorney, but doesn't that leave the other so called wives and their kids in a very vulnerable position? I absolutely would not want legal wife, no matter how sisterly we are, to have that kind of power over me/my kids. Then we would see how BFF the women are. But that's just me, I am a bit of a cynic.

I watched, there really wasn't any drama or craziness. As I said in another thread, I couldn't find much to complain about.

And their argument would be that plural marriage should be legal. As a pro-polyamory person, I'm not sure I disagree. I know people in poly relationships that are not based on a religious requirement or emphasis and they're incredibly happy. And, these adults grew up in polygamous families and their faith teaches that is the ideal (even if it's currently prohibited in LDS, it is only prohibited because it is illegal).

If we're going to believe that they're unhappy no matter what, well then we're going to believe that, but I think that's a rather silly perspective to take. I don't doubt that there will be some sort of drama through the season, but any more than any other family on reality TV? Probably not.

I watched it today. It was really interesting.

One house, multiple "master" bedrooms/living rooms/kitchens. Not out on a compound. This is like the "Big Love" version of polygamy, not the marrying 18 wives when you're 82 and they're 12 kind.

If she's so jealous, why did she even allow her husband to marry other women anyways? They're all best friends now but like others have said... I think the claws will come out. Reality shows tend to do that to people :P

Sometimes, it's best to keep a low profile.

:( 'Sister Wives' stars may face bigamy charge: http://theclicker.todayshow.com/_new...-bigamy-charge

Originally, I thought that this thread was a spin off of the Penn State ASA's comment on "Your Mother's Rush" which is a wonderful thread.

There was a People article that said that the second wife was the only one not raised in a polygamist home.

Maybe it's just me, but I am a little creeped out and uncomfortable with the dad. IDK, there's just something about him that rubs me the wrong way. Whenever he talks, I feel a little like he is lecturing us on the virtues of polygamy. It also bothers me a bit that all the mons ride around in monster SUVs to carry all the kids, yet dad's ride is a snazzy 2 seater sports car? I remember when my dad bought sports car right after the birth of my fourth sibling. I thought my mom was going to kill him? And Cody does "sales, advertising"? I know that is a career that requires long hours and travel, yet he sure does seem to be around a lot. So other than chopping the occaissional tree with a manly chain saw, what else does he do around the house other than pat the kids on the head and check his bed schedule and go on dates. With 12 kids and 3 wives there have to be issues, even if its the garden variety Johnny is flunking math and Susie is dating a boy we don't approve of and the water pipe broke. We don't hear much about that, other than how the wives get jealous. Methinks dad-Cody is a controller. Just my impression.

Keep in mind though, polygamy != polyamory.

Exactly

Aye this is a different look. And even as the first wife says she's jealous she admits to being the one who "recruits" the other wives.

Because it was worth it to her?
I suspect/fear most of the drama will be from the edited previews and not the show itself.
Probably won't happen, even if they get charged I don't think they'll follow through. It opens a big can of worms that they're not ready to face. Interestingly Canada has declined to prosecute for bigamy due to freedom of religion.

Whether or not there's benefits fraud going on may be a different issue.
No shit. Poly's my thesis topic ;) And technically this is polygyny even if polygamy in this country is used to refer to religious Mormon and Muslim polygamy more than anything else. You couldn't craft a law that would allow multiple marriages for one without the other, which is my point.

Most people's objections to polygamy, FLDS in particular, are that they are patriarchal, forced marriages, with minors. The last two are illegal, and immoral, and should be prosecuted. You can't really DO anything about the patriarchy, not effectively from the outside anyway. And in the end, if these adult women are happy... well why not?

Is allowing multiple legal marriages likely? No. But ceasing to prosecute for multiple non-legal marriages is possible.

I haven't seen it yet but I've been meaning to. The husband and I recently started watching Big Love (on HBO)- I think its 5th season starts in a few months. Similar idea, but fiction and HBO'd.

Work's been boring so I've been reading up, looks like HBO used this family in a "Real Life Polygamy" documentary that they produced along with Big Love. This family has quite a few similarities and I wouldn't be shocked if they weren't used as consultant/models/fodder for Big Love in some ways.

Oh, you're right- it is HBO not Showtime. One of those paid channels!

Now I'm really curious to watch and see the similarities.

I watched it, and these people are exactly the type of plural marriage people who I have no issue with. I am not a fan of teenage marriages and secret living, but grown people making decisions and allowing their kids to make their own choices is fine by me. I think the first wife was the youngest when she married (19 or so) and the others were in their early twenties. Not saying they aren't a product of their environment and sought out a plural marriage, but at least they aren't bilking the welfare system and the women go outside the home for school and work.

I really liked the one sister wife (I think the one who is pregnant and stays home) telling the girls they need to go to college/get an education before they get married. This is so different from the compound type FLDS people who close off the outside world and don't promote education at all. I also think their next house should have one room for Kody so he can keep all his clothes in one location and if he is sick not spread it around. I think his car is actually a four seater, with a not kid seat friendly back seat.

There is a colony not far from here, and I'm not talking about the one in British Columbia, but in North Idaho. I've seen them in Costco and I wasn't shocked because they were straight off the set of Big Love in hair and dress, but that it was on a Sunday and the woman was by herself with one infant. I guess they don't travel in packs here like the Mennonite and Hutterite people do.

Damn, my dvr recorded the wrong epsiode. Are they on line anywhere?

Whatever floats your boat is all I have to say.

Beautiful cake. :) Looked tasty.

He's a handsome man. I liked the photos of their first weddings. He looked really handsome and clean cut when he was younger. I don't like the long hair thing.

I agree. While polygomy isn't something that's common to most Americans, it's all these women know, and they seem to be doing well with it. I'm not sure how any four women are going to get all excited over Kody, but I could say that about many guys of many, many religions.

I was happy to hear that he was okay with his daughter wanting to go to the Naval Academy - which may be a bigger dream than she realizes, but more power to her.

I didn't get the incubator bit with this group that I get with a lot of the other FLDS. In a setting such as this, the competition could get intense. I do feel that Wife #1 needed better words to describe her feelings about her own needs, though.

I'm watching the new episode.

We don't have inside knowledge on their lives. Just based on what I see on the show, I see times where it seems like they don't have a consensus on how their lives should be lived. One of the wives wants to go back to work outside of the family work suggestion.

So, of course, they have the same problems that other unions and marriages have. People agree to things and pretend that they are completely in agreement even when their minds are telling them something different. People agree to things and change their minds either immediately or years later.

I like this episode a lot. It's the least douchey Kodi's come off in a while.

LOL. They may have edited the douch out to show that he's too busy to be douchy.

The episode is titled "The 4 Lives of Kody Brown" and described as: "Kody is followed for four days as he moves each day to the house of a different wife...."

I love this show i find it super interesting and like others have said they were all adults when they entered into this life style so i think we .. i mean the collective we should not persecute or prosecute them for it

With as many different backgrounds, upbringing, religious affiliations (or none), political leanings, life experiences, I would say that on this board, there really isn't a "collective we."

Discussing a lifestyle and their personal decisions that, as it appears on television...

- is causing a lot of family disharmony
- keeps mom and kids from seeing the husband/father (he stays at each home once every four nights) on a regular basis
- is contributing to depression in one of the teenagers
- uprooted their entire family - in a matter of 8 days - under the auspices that they were "running from the law," when their moving will have no effect on the reach of the charges filed against them
- is causing many of the older children internal strife; most don't want to follow in the parents' faith; several are "getting out" as soon as possible

... is NOT persecution.

Yeah the surface-level freedom of choice does not override what is going on. Families are complex, stressful, and easily imbalanced. That complexity can be increased with "these types of families."

I appreciate consenting adults' rights to choose their own partnerships and families. At the same time, freedom of choice could theoretically support a lot of decisions that are considered illegal; and many would consider immoral or bad ideas based on weighing the costs and benefits.

Watching last night's episode. Anyone have any idea what sorority Aspyn joined at UNLV?

Yep.

LOL. Ooooook....

She kept the name private on the show, so I figured she might want to keep it that way.:p

It's all over her Twitter https://twitter.com/AspynBrown
she joined Alpha Xi Delta

Thanks! Was just curious and it wasn't on Wiki, and I don't do Twitter....

I'm not much of a Twitterer (is that a word?) but I came across her page because one of my friends retweeted her and I remember I saw her affiliation on there somewhere.

LOVE the quote she posted on Twitter from her sister, Truely, "true sisters and ever after friends". That is the cutest!

Bump because I'm watching the polygamy show on National Geographic Channel.

Holy Cow! That's my chapter! I had no idea. A belated congrats to her. I haven't watched this show in a good long while.