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Objective Evaluation of Criticism of the Polygamous Lifestyle:
Aside from the arguments based solely on cultural beliefs and notions of the definition of marriage in Western society, there are also more objective criticisms to polygamous marriage. When such marriages involve the prospect of child rearing, there are issues of child welfare, at least in terms of how being raised in a polygamous family affects psychological development in the child (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2007). The main concern is that it distorts the view of marriage and family in the minds of children.
However, on closer examination, such criticisms may be less valid on any objective principle and relate more to deviation from establishes norms and biases in mainstream culture. If anything, children raised within polygamous families generally have the benefit of more parental attention rather than less, which may be particularly important given the degree to which parental attention within traditional marriages and nuclear families is often limited by the demands of professional (and other) responsibilities of parents.
Furthermore, the same rationalization was, until relatively recently, commonly used as the basis for objection to interracial marriage. Specifically, it was suggested by many that even if there was no...
In light of the evidence of what polygamous marriage entails, it would seem that where it involves only consenting adults, there is little actual justification for opposition to it, much less to criminal prohibition under penalty of criminal law.
References
Dougherty, J., Johnson, K. (2007). "Sect Leader Is Convicted as an Accomplice to Rape"
New York Times, September 26, 2007. Retrieved May 14, 2009, from The New
York Times database, at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/us/26jeffs.html?_r=1
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/mayweb-only/121-52.0.html
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