Wednesday, September 29, 2010

sister wives

Have you heard of TLC's new show Sister Wives? It's about a polygamist family that lives right here in Utah (of course). You can watch the first episode online. Find it here. We watched it last night and were totally fascinated by this family. Kody Brown has three wives and 12 going on 13 children. He's been married to the first for 20 years, the second for 17 and the third for 16. During the first episode you find out they've decided to welcome a new wife to the family-- a divorced mother of 3.

What is so interesting about this family is first of all how fairly normal they seem. We are so used to seeing the pioneer dressed, puffy hair kind of polygamists. This family is more along the lines of "Big Love". The other thing that struck me is how happy they all are with this arrangement. It really works for them. Two of the wives work and Kody has a very good job. They live in one large home that is divided into three separate but connecting apartments. The kids all wander freely between the homes. Kody seems to do a great job dividing his time between the wives. And the wives area all great friends.

I could never share my husband but I do see the appeal in having other women around to help out. For example one of the wives really loves working and doesn't enjoy all the housewifely duties so it works out well that her sisterwife loves taking care of all the kids while she works. It's an amazing little system they have worked out.

The other thing we are really curious about is their religion. They are FLDS but obviously not of the Texas compound variety. Kody actually explained the difference between LDS or Mormonism and FLDS really well. He said they are totally separate although related religions similar to Catholics and Protestants.  Jared being the religion teacher totally wants to find out if they have open church services. Wouldn't that be so interesting to see how they are similar or different from mainstream LDS meetings?

So yeah check it out. We don't have cable so I'm really hoping they keep posting the episodes online.

10 comments:

  1. http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=12603468

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  2. We saw this too. We randomly stumbled upon it. And here's the crazy thing. They are practically our neighbors! Mark said, "hey, I think I've seen that house!" Sure enough, about a mile away... very interesting and SO weird at the same time!

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  3. I've said for years that socially, polygamy makes so much sense. Emotionally, I don't think I'm up to sharing a husband, but I could really get used to having some sister wives around.

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  4. Until my first year as a stay at home mom I couldn't comprehend wanting a sister-wife. Now I think that some sort of extended family is really necessary for any mother's sanity, be it a sister-wife or a close-knit family.

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  5. I just heard on the radio yesterday that the husband now has a warrent out for his arrest-- for bigamy. I guess they laid below the radar before the show but I guess it drew more attention to them. It can't figure out why they wouldn't have thought of that before they agreed to the show? Maybe they know some loophole in the bigamy law. It will be interesting to see what happens to the show if he goes to jail. Or what happens to the family and all those little kids.

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  6. I do not think he should be prosecuted. It is not like I am pro-polygamy or anything, but these are adults in a freely chosen, loving relationship. Prosecutors, spend your time nailing all the monogamous parents abusing their children instead.

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  7. I caught this show on TLC last night, and my husband and I were sucked in. I was so sad to see how unhappy those women were. Two of the 3 cried multiple times about how they didn't want a new wife and how they weren't getting enough attention. My heart broke for them and their pain. Their husband didn't seem to care at all that they were all hurting.

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  8. i like the idea of having more companionship and a closer relationship with women but i couldn't handle sharing my husband emotionally or physically. it'd be so hard! i say we just start living with extended family like the way things used to be (although i am pretty sure that'd drive me nuts too).

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  9. Tia... didn't see that episode. the one i saw they all seemed quite happy with the arrangement.

    kami... i hear ya. i seriously would be down with some type of communal living. shared garden, childcare etc. but I need my husband to be MINE!

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  10. Holy cow, I freaked out when I saw this and of course scoured the internet for any interview I could find on them--it was before the episode came out. It completely weirded me out and I talked to Josh for a good while about it. He was trying to help calm me down about it I think and was trying to help me understand why they'd sign up for that agreement and I guess I can almost, maybe, a teeny bit understand a sliver of why they might do it, but I have to think it's got to be all about their religion or who in the right mind would willingly sign up for that. I could just be an insanely jealous of my husband kind of creature by nature, but I could just be loyal. YUCK yuck Yuck! And whoever you are Kate, if I were you, I'd so be over spying on them all the time now! If you do, tell us!

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