I wish the newspapers and broadcast media would use the right word for this. Now that they’ve snagged Warren Jeffs, it’s all over the place, and it’s driving me nuts. Polygamy is a general term for multiple marriages, and implies multiple husbands as well as multiple wives. As everyone knows, there are plenty of religions and cults that encourage their male members to take multiple wives, but multiple husbands – well, maybe in some remote jungle somewhere, and in one or two ancient cultures, but it’s just never caught on in quite the same way. The specific term, then, should be Polygyny, which means multiple wives. (BTW, for multiple husbands, it’s Polyandry.) As disturbing as the idea of multiple spouses is, let’s call this one what it is, so people can really see the multiple levels of ickyness. Polygyny allows men to have further domination of women, moreso than is already provided for by religious texts. The extension of this is that women become even closer to being objects, property, than these religions already provide for, allowing men to take young girls as wives, as well. (What a great thing for pedophiles!) The word “Polygamy” puts men and women on a bit more equal footing, and that’s exactly what Polygyny is not about.
Sep1