How Polygamy Impacts the Welfare System and You and Me

Polygamy and the Degradation of Women

Carolyn R Scheidies, Yahoo! Contributor Network
May 23, 2008 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

All sorts of information and misinformation is leaking out about the Polygamist compound in Texas and the raid that took away 400 children of polygamist so-called marriages. Some of the polygamist mothers claim no one is forced to marry and certainly no one underage. These women who practice polygamy say they are good mothers and in their own world they certainly attempt to be so, but they are far removed from reality.

For these radical off-shoots of the Mormon system, polygamy is deeply entwined with their religion. The book SHATTERED DREAMS: My Life as a Polygamist Wife is by Irene Spencer, who was brought up and entangled in the polygamist system. She said that a wife in this polygamist system, regardless of her feelings to the contrary, is the one who must symbolically hand her husband over to the new, usually younger, wife. Each wife in turn gives her husband to the next woman, sometimes no more than girls the age of the daughters of the older wives. So the tradition of polygamy continues.

According to Spencer, sexual relations, far from an erotic delight, at least for the woman entangled with polygamy, is for one purpose and that is to provide a portal for Heavenly entities and to insure a great position and status in the afterlife. Eternal status for the polygamist husband depends on the number of wives and children accumulated while on earth.

Women of polygamy situations become mere slaves to the whim of autocratic, domineering dictates of husbands and other male religious authority figures. Polygamist wives are at the beck and call of their husbands, being treated kindly or harshly depending upon their husband's personality, beliefs and bent. Why do free women submit themselves to such degradation? This male dominated polygamy system of multiple wives rolls everything up in a neat package of faith.

A polygamist woman who objects to her treatment or seeks to leave the situation, especially if she seeks to take her children with her, is propagandized with the belief that she will be eternally dammed. Polygamy, women are told, is the only way for a woman to know paradise. If a husband who practices polygamy is ready to be rid of a dissatisfied wife, he might agree to let her go, but not with her children. Hell and losing her children is the choice these women of polygamy face. And we wonder why so many try to put a positive face on their situation.

In many situations, women entangled in polygamy are little more than breeding mares and slaves. Childhood is short. Females are groomed, encouraged, and pushed if not outright forced into a polygamist marriage once they reach puberty, often with much older men, making this cult little more than a breeding ground for pedophiles. Boys are taught to view women not as helpmates and companions, but as a means to elevate their position in the afterlife and for begetting as many children as possible. In truth, some of these so-called marriages, as recent court cases have shown, are little more than rape.

But there is another aspect of the polygamist system not often revealed in news stories but that Spencer unveils in her book. Since plural marriage is not legal in the United States, all but first wives are not married in the eyes of the law. They are simply single women with children, often many children.

While some polygamist men can support their multiple wives, many, many cannot. In these cases, subterfuge is often used to claim these women have no male support or "husbands" and are eligible for government assistance. Indirectly, our taxes support this degrading, abusive system by supporting plural wives of men unable to properly care for them. Citizens who live by the law, take care of their family and pay taxes are taking care of "wives" and children of men who sometimes are little more than sanctified pedophiles.

Hopefully, the lawyers for the polygamists of the Texas compound won't be able to dismantle the case against their clients. Let's pray the woman and children will once and for all escape the abuse and degradation imposed upon them and learn to live and love in a free society.

Published by Carolyn R Scheidies

Carolyn R. Scheidies is an author/reviewer/ speaker and more. Find her at http://IDealinHope.com. View profile