Kody Brown and His Sister Wives

TLC (The Learning Channel) aired the premiere of an interesting new reality series, "Sister Wives," last Sunday, September 26^th at ten p.m. I watched it with blatant curiosity, and was surprised to come out liking the family members.

"Sister Wives," concerns the daily life of a family following the practice of polygamy. Polygamy is defined as, "the practice of having two or more spouses at the same time," defined by Webster's New World Dictionary. Polygamy is not to be confused with bigamy, which is being married a second time when you're already legally married to someone else. Mormon's stopped practicing polygamy over a century ago, but there are offshoot groups who still continue the practice.

"Sister Wives," features, Kody Brown, a 42 year old man who has four wives and sixteen children. Kody Brown, and his sister wives are fundamentalist Mormons who believe their faith supports a plural lifestyle. Kody has been married to his first wife Meri, his only legal wife, for twenty years. Janelle is his second wife and they have been married seventeen years. Christine is his third wife and they have been married sixteen years. His latest wife, Robyn, has been married to the family for four months.

Kody Brown lives in Utah and shares a home with his first three wives. Robyn lives in her own home a short distance from the prime resident. Each wife has their own apartment in the house, including their own kitchen and their own master bedrooms, which their husband, Kody Brown, visits regularly. Three women sharing a kitchen may be considered to be a nightmare, but four women sharing a husband must believe in a higher power to solve all the issues this brings.

Watching, "Sister Wives," I wondered why four women willingly chose this plural lifestyle. Janielle is the only wife who wasn't raised in a polygamous family, but still chose this lifestyle. Robyn has three children from another marriage. The sister wives report they enjoy the camaraderie between them all. Kody Brown's a nice looking, remarkably youthful man with a strong sense of humor. He works as an advertising executive. During the show he openly exhibited affection towards all his wives and his children. Each wife has a date night with Kody, and they also share a group date. He stated in People magazine, "I go out with the four of them and waiters think I'm the gay friend."

"Sister Wives," expect to show how the adult family member's share responsibility for not only their own children, but also for their other sister wife's children. Most of the wives work to help financially support the family's lifestyle. The children seem well mannered and happy as they play together. They attend an outside school with other children from polygamous families. Kody and his family have a busy schedule juggling the activities of the children and wives. They seem to follow through well, though Kody often seems a little harried locating his own personal items spread out in four wives residences. The wives interact as if they were sisters who liked each other. It'll be interesting to see what happens as their lives become more public.

When the majority of people think of polygamists they picture the image of drab women dressed in pioneer clothing, obediently and quietly following their husband with their multiple children as they live on locked compounds. In 2006, Warren Jeffs, an extreme polygamist sect leader in Utah and Arizona was arrested for charges of rape and forcing underage girls to be married to older men. His compound was raided and children were taken by social services due to alleged child abuse charges. The children were later returned. You can read further information about Warren Jeffs at the following website link. http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/warren_jeffs

If you see Kody Brown and his sister wives, they don't stand out in anyway to be unusual. They dress and live a modern lifestyle, but follow a religious practice that can be considered immoral. The legalities of living in this polygamous lifestyle in, "Sister Wives," are blurred, due to the fact Kody Brown is only married to one woman legally. There are no underage women involved, and each woman freely agreed to live a plural lifestyle. There aren't laws concerning how many women a man can freely live or sleep with, if they're all adults who give their consent.

Kody Brown and his sister wives have agreed as a family to share their lifestyle in this reality series hoping to dispel myths regarding polygamy lifestyles. Whether you believe or not in the morality of polygamy doesn't alter their beliefs.

Today, "Good Morning America," on ABC, reported that, Kody Brown and his family may be open to legal investigation, now that he decided to open his life to the public. Questions of whether, Kody Brown, has broken a bigamy law are now being addressed and also whether children are being abused due to television exposure.

"Sister Wives," is a true view of a polygamous lifestyle, not like the fiction series, "Big Love," on HBO. Time will tell whether, Kody Brown and his sister wives can happily continue their polygamous lifestyle. The question continues regarding whether a polygamous lifestyle is immoral or illegal in our country.

For further information about, "Sister Wives," check out the following website link.

http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/sister-wives/

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