Polygamy: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #697

by Sarah M.S. Pearsall

Marriage has not always meant just one man and one woman. For much of human history, over much of the globe, the most common alternative was marriage involving more than one spouse. Polygamy, or plural marriage, has long been an accepted form of union in human societies, involving people living on every continent. However, polygamy has come to symbolize a problematic, even “barbaric,” form of marriage that is often labeled as “backwards,” less modern and progressive, embodying the oppression of women by men.

In A Very Short Introduction , Sarah M. S. Pearsall explores what plural marriages reveal about the inner workings of marriage and describes the controversies surrounding it. The book emphasizes the diversity of historical polygamist societies, from the Shi'ite Muslims and Wendat men who practiced short-term marriages to the Mixteca, Maori, Inca, Algonquin, and Marta indigenous people of North America and the Pacific Islands, as well as medieval Irish kings, rulers of the Kingdom of Buganda in east Africa, and residents of the Ottoman Empire. Pearsall also explains the Old Testament origins of polygamy in the book of Genesis, making note of vocal Protestant defenders of the practice such as Martin Luther and John Milton, and the divides within Christianity that led to Joseph Smith's establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) and the Mormons' fight throughout the 19th-century under his successor Brigham Young's leadership to freely practice
plural marriage.

A Very Short Introduction looks at how polygamous domestic and sexual relationships have influenced larger dynamics of power, gender, rank, race, and religion in societies all over the world, while also attempting to untangle the paradox of female constraint and liberty for women who advocated for polygamy, arguing that plural marriage offered security and stability rather than restraint for women. In balancing an explanation of the many complexities and misunderstandings of plural marriage, the book reveals how polygamy continues to have an influence on society today.

Genres: History, Sexuality, Audiobook, Religion, Nonfiction

168 pages, Paperback

Published May 24, 2022

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review or my reaction to the book at any rate One of the saddest things I ever saw was an old woman, with two middle-aged women, all in hijab sitting on a sofa in a hotel in Bangkok. After a while, an old man accompanied by a very young beautiful woman came out of the lift laughing together and joined them. It was obviously a procession of wives.

But then I saw an episode of Big Love, a show which I watched half a dozen times. A woman about to become a fourth wife of the big-ego, big hair husband explained that she never wanted to be a first wife. She said that wife would go through hell when her husband, to whom she had been the one and only, the beloved wife, took a second wife (whom he obviously loved more than her or he wouldn't hurt her by taking a second wife). She didn't want to be a third wife, because she was going to have deal with the first and second wives issues of rejection and jealousy when she had become the primary love object. But by the time of a fourth wife, everyone would have settled down and accepted the situation.

She said she never wanted to be the only wife, that she wanted to marry into a family, with wives who would be her friends, and lots of children and the time for her own career and not having to look after a single man.

So I'm interested in reading what this book has to say, expecially since it is written by a woman.

[David]

I'm formulating theories.... I'm working up some takes.... watch this space.

[emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

‘Polygamy can be conservative and regressive; it can also be modern and progressive. It has often been a way to mark boundaries of belonging. Polygamy’s complex history demonstrates that domestic life has long been an arena for fierce contests over the right way to organize society and politics and religion and that such remains the case in the early twenty-first century.’

I was really more interested in a more contemporary discussion/views on ‘polygamy’. I don’t care enough about dead kings who had many wives and all that jazz. The writing is well-organised and engaging enough though. But having only a single chapter at the very end covering more recent thoughts on the subject just wasn’t enough for me to find this a satisfying read.

‘Polyamorists celebrate compersion, essentially the opposite of jealousy, finding joy in a lover’s enjoyment of another. Some even espouse what they call radical relationship anarchy, refusing monogamy and most other traditional arrangements.

This trend toward polyamory advocacy has its roots in twentieth-century countercultures of the 1960s and 1970s. Polyamory was part of a general questioning and utopianism, stemming from communal cultures and the impetus of the so-called sexual revolution. Such radicalism flourished on the American West Coast, in California and Oregon.’

I don’t feel like I’ve learned anything new/much about ‘polygamy’ reading this book, but the bit below was a little surprising to me, so I thought I’d add it in. The book really doesn’t offer anything much other than a whole lot of historical ‘facts’ regarding ‘polygamy’. Not quite what I was looking for.

‘Even modern polyandry did not necessarily empower wives, as in rural China, one of the rare global examples of women with multiple husbands. This practice arose in the Qing era, from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries, as the number of landless and luckless rural poor rose. What was called “getting a husband to support a husband” was a form of nonfraternal polyandry in which a wife, often one whose first husband was ill or injured or otherwise unable to maintain a household, took a male lover who provided financial backing to the family. Some of these arrangements were formal marriages, with contracts. Legal texts from various regions in China reproduced contracts for formal polyandry.’

[Spencer Sandberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating overview and introduction to the topic. 3 insights stick with me:

1)A lot of my assumptions and stories of polygamy are largely rooted in European orientalist views and narratives designed to reinforce cultural superiority. Most of those don’t line up with the actual practice of polygamy around the world.

2) the Protestant reformation paved the way for Mormon polygamy by shifting marriage in Western Europe from a religious to civic act (alongside an emphasis on biblical authority where Old & New Testament sources support or fail to renounce polygamy). Many other people at the time in England & USA were also advocating for or even practicing forms of polygamy

3) modern proponents of polygamy paradoxically come from wildly different camps: progressive queer/feminist thinkers and religious fundamentalists, the latter of whom draw on earlier Islamic or Mormon histories but do so in ways which significantly differ from those groups’ earlier practices.

4) ultimately Pearsall seems to argue that polygamy has typically been less centered on gender roles and equality and more about political systems and cultural / religious identity. How polygamy empowers or oppresses women varies widely within and across contexts.

[Sieglinde · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always love reading from other people's perspectives. Especially from another woman, as I've tried to put into words the reasons why a woman might be interested in a Polygynous lifestyle.

This book I think does a fair job of presenting polygamy from both sides but does have an overall positive viewpoint. I appreciate any work written on polygamy in a positive light because it's something that I strongly believe in.

It is a very short read, so for anyone curious, I'd recommend it as a start for exploring this aspect of life.

[cypher · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting, but it still felt very incomplete.

[Josiah Richardson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't give this a one-star review because I disagree with polygamy. If this was simply a history of polygamy and it's ramifications, it probably would have been pretty interesting. But it is one star because of the obvious bent that the author has towards polygamy as a whole.

Polygamy has a long history, and if you're a Christian like myself, then examples of polygamy in scripture will immediately come to mind. And yet polygamy was never encouraged or viewed as a positive good. The opening question of this short book was something to the effect of"Has monogamy always been the predominant and accepted form of marriage in the history of the world? No." And immediately goes to the story of Abraham and Hagar as an example from scripture that polygamy was present and produced a positive good. And yet what occured between Abraham and Hagar was not polygamy, it was adultery. The example of marriage from the beginning of mankind has always been a monogamous relationship because of the type and shadows of Christ and the Church. Christ has always had one bride, not multiple brides. He is not, as my pastor has said, a cosmic polygamist.

What is interesting from this book is actually the hurt and struggle that women who are brought into these polygamous relationships have in their lives. The book chronicles stories of different women who enjoyed having extra help around the house, and the feeling of sisterhood among the other "wives." And yet, this is an example of what they should not feel. When a covenant is struck between a man and a woman, there is an ought and a not for the wife. They ought to be jealous for their husbands; not in an unreasonable manner such as not trusting them to go out with their friends type of jealous. But rather a jealousy that recognizes that the loyalty and exclusive access to her husband is a reflection of her own beauty and image. Secondly, there should not be an allowance for that bond to be corrupted by an outside source. Although this is the job of both the husband and the wife, there is a distinct truth that in many ways, the wife is particularly sensitive to changes in the home that the husband is not. Eve tasted the fruit first.

The end of this book was the most candid as to the results of polygamy. Child abuse, kidnapping, forced marriages, and the like. One thing that was evidently absent from this introduction was actually any positive good from polygamy. It only historically has created issues but more than that it is counter to the design that God has given to mankind for the union of marriage.