MovieChat Forums > Big Love (2006) Discussion > From the perspective of a polyamorous wo...

From the perspective of a polyamorous woman


I am a nonreligious woman who practices polygamy, and I love this show! Bill, Barb, Nicki, and Margene obviously have an extremely unhealthy relationship, but it was fun to watch. Although that is definitely not how a successful, healthy poly marriage is done. All of the people involved were childish, selfish, and absolutely not ready to be sister wives.
I hate Bill more than any other character I think. "I am the priest holder, do as I say, follow my orders at all times." And what a hypocrite! They all kept saying Cara Lynn and Mr Ivey wasn't the same thing as Bill and Marge when it totally was! Actually Bill and Marge were probably worse. Margene was 16 and Bill was in his late 30s, early 40s. While Cara Lynn is 15 and Mr Ivey is in his mid to late 20s.

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I am now on season 5, and I seriously HATE Bill, this story line to adopt this grown ass girl is bull crap.

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Bill is awful! And Nicki is awful! I feel like Barbara let nicki walk all over her with the marriage thing.

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And how exactly do you practice polygamy, if I may ask?
- are you and the other women "sister-wives"? Are they your sisters or spouses (the show mentions several times the women are also married to each other), in which case, are you not in fact in a same-sex marriage?
- are you the legal wife or one of the concubines (unless you're all actually married, which is illegal)?
- are you OK with sharing a man with other women? Would you be OK with sharing say tooth brush and underwear as well (you may as well be doing so)?
- how do you deal with the fact that you are not enough for whomever you're with? Since he clearly wants other women besides you.
- are YOU allowed to have several husbands?
- who settles disputes and big decisions in the home? Is it a democracy or does the dude have the ultimate say?
- do you get veto power over new additions (new "wives")?

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Lol you're hilarious. Here, I'll try to answer your questions, but without the "I'm better than you" tone you used XD

I am legally married to my husband. Neither of us are legally married to anyone else. Obviously. I use the term "polygamy" very loosely. We are technically polyamorous. But since many people don't understand the difference, I grouped them together.
My husband has had a few girlfriends since we have been together, and none have lived with us. He sometimes sleeps at their houses for a few nights, and sometimes he doesn't.
I have boyfriends as well. Sometimes I sleep at home, sometimes I sleep at their houses.
No we don't share toothbrushes, silly person. That's gross.

I can't remember anything else you asked so that's all I got.

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You shouldn't use the terms interchangeably. People won't learn the difference until they learn - help them!

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Jay, thank you for sharing that with us. It's always interesting to learn different lifestyles. I am one of the people who understands what polyamorous is. Personally, I couldn't do it, but I do know others who do. I firmly believe in your right to live the way you see fit. It seems to be a perfectly healthy lifestyle for you and your husband. No one is getting hurt. No jealousy. I think it's great if you can do that. Letting go of jealousy is hard. I'm not really an overly jealous person in the fact that unlike most people, I have friends of the opposite sex and I don't freak out and get jealous of my boyfriend's friends of the opposite sex. Although I don't believe I can deal with my boyfriend dating another woman.

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Oh, and he doesn't make all decisions. We make them together like a normal family.

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Oh and we don't really get any say in who we decide to date. As long as the person is respectful of the situation. No jealous tendencies, or trying to "steal" my husband. Two women have tried in the past, but we just nip that in the bud.
There is only one woman who has become somewhat permanent. She's been with us for almost 2 years now. She's great. I absolutely love her and she's probably my very best friend. Sometimes she calls my husband her husband and I'm okay with that. They basically are married. I never thought of considering her a sister wife, but I definitely do now! She's my best friend and she loves my husband like I do, so I feel we are sisters and wives. And does that make us married? No, not really. But if it did, that'd be great too. There's nothing wrong with same sex marriage :)

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"I have boyfriends as well."

That pretty much ended the comparison between your situation and the one depicted in the show.

With that stated, pretty much ignore everything else I said or asked.

However, you're not really practiving polygamy in any modern sense of the word if you are allowed to have multiple intimate partners.

That is polyandry (techncially speaking polygamy is supposed to cover it, but today in THIS context, when people say "polygamy" they always mean 1 dude with several women).

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Urgh.....I hate ignorance, but especially ignorance with a heavy layer or arrogance that just makes the commenter seem punchable.

Polyandry - one woman with multiple husbands. This is not polyandry, this is polyamory as stated in the title of the OP.


PolyGYNY is is one man + multiple women and yes. IN the polygamy community we do make the distinction between the three different terms but most smart people realise that a woman with multiple husbands is also polygamy.

But just for fun, let me answer your inane questions since it's so important to you.


- are you and the other women "sister-wives"? Are they your sisters or spouses (the show mentions several times the women are also married to each other), in which case, are you not in fact in a same-sex marriage?


Most people in the plural community do NOT believe the women are married to one another, in fact, I think that statement was an aberration on the otherwise excellent depiction of fundamentalist Mormon Polygamy. If you read and watch a video of Joe Darger (whose wives were an inspiration for the show) he has said that he believes he has three monogamous marriages (but they are all one family).
https://youtu.be/WRJY8CUiPv8

However, some other people have this idea that the women are also married to one another and it is one marriage, but that is not common and it is not what most would term polygyny.


- are you the legal wife or one of the concubines (unless you're all actually married, which is illegal)?


In the Polygyny community, religious marriages take precedence over legal marriage, therefore all are wives, there are no concubines. Legal marriage is just seen as a bit of paperwork and not serve any function inside the home. Some polygamists have no legal wife at all and therefore all are religious wives. The 'boss wife' thing from Big Love is uncommon. Generally to refer to a religious wife as a concubine would be offensive. Of course from a legal standpoint there are no other wives but at the same time, in most places, it is not illegal for a man to live and care for his girlfriends/mistresses or concubines so who cares what people think?




- are you OK with sharing a man with other women? Would you be OK with sharing say tooth brush and underwear as well (you may as well be doing so)?


Yes, no, no and no. A man is not a inanimate object but actually a functioning, independent human being with personal agency, but thanks for objectifying a whole gender. I wouldn't share a vibrator either but I guess you would think a man is pretty much the same thing too?


- how do you deal with the fact that you are not enough for whomever you're with? Since he clearly wants other women besides you.


How does he cope with knowing that I would rather not have him all to myself all the time because I have other things I would rather do? Everyone has their own reasons for polygamy, if you think only men have choices than clearly, you don't know plural wives.




- are YOU allowed to have several husbands?


Who the hell wants that???? Trust me, one is more than enough but sure I could, but I really wouldn't want to, it pretty much takes away all advantages to being IN a polygynous marriage.


- who settles disputes and big decisions in the home? Is it a democracy or does the dude have the ultimate say?


Depends on the family, some people believe in egalitarianism and in some families the man is head, pretty much the same as monogamous marriages I should think. From just observation, the more religious the families the more likely they are to have the male as head, of course how much ACTUAL leadership is being done by these men depends on the personalities of all involved, some are the 'Head' in name alone but in general they still function egalitarian.


- do you get veto power over new additions (new "wives")?


I should think that would be safe in an early stage but at some point you really need to trust your husband.
Luckily most experienced polygamous husbands are smarter than that and think of the benefit to the whole family, it is the noobs who tend to lack judgement.

Whether anyone is polyamorous or polygamous the point is, that successful and working non monogamous relationships need honesty, trust and excellent communication to be functional, the characters on Big Love failed over and over with these traits and hence, their relationships were DYSFUNCTIONAL.

They were not dysfunctional BECAUSE they were Polygynous, nor (exclusively) because of religious patriarchy but also just because of who the characters were annnnnnnd (let's be honest) it creates drama and this was a TV SHOW, if they all worked together in harmony all the time it would not have worked as a TV show.



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Most people in the plural community do NOT believe the women are married to one another, in fact, I think that statement was an aberration on the otherwise excellent depiction of fundamentalist Mormon Polygamy.


Part of the misunderstanding comes from the fact that even though each marriage is an individual marriage, the husband, wives, and children are all sealed for time and eternity as a family unit. That is different than a marriage, but it is a hard concept to grasp for people outside the Mormon culture.

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Mr Ivey is in his mid to late 20s
Nope, Mr. Ivey is 37.

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What a big load of BS this whole thread is.

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