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jammies · 01-22-2009, 06:43 PM

If control of women is your sticking point, the same arguments apply to normal marriage as well as polygamous marriage; if what bothers you is 60 year old men marrying teenagers, that has little to do with polygamy. Certainly this type of marriage is unsavory, but I'm not sure that keeping polygamy illegal is going to have more than an infinitesmal effect on the rates of geezer/jailbait hookups. When you look at the number of polygamists vs the population at large, it is statistically insignificant - even compared to the number of same-sex marriages, this is an issue that is hardly about to tear the social fabric to shreds with widespread potential for abuse.

Further, I'm not sure any legal strictures intended to prevent such marriages would do more good than harm; anytime you start telling people what they can and can't do at the age of consent, you limit freedom and unintended consequences invariably result. Far better to recognize such marriages as legal, and try to include these "cults" in the cultural mainstream where their more extreme ideas are bound to be adjusted to the norm in the long run.

01-22-2009, 06:43 PM	#122
jammies Basement Chicken Choker Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants. Exp:	If control of women is your sticking point, the same arguments apply to normal marriage as well as polygamous marriage; if what bothers you is 60 year old men marrying teenagers, that has little to do with polygamy. Certainly this type of marriage is unsavory, but I'm not sure that keeping polygamy illegal is going to have more than an infinitesmal effect on the rates of geezer/jailbait hookups. When you look at the number of polygamists vs the population at large, it is statistically insignificant - even compared to the number of same-sex marriages, this is an issue that is hardly about to tear the social fabric to shreds with widespread potential for abuse. Further, I'm not sure any legal strictures intended to prevent such marriages would do more good than harm; anytime you start telling people what they can and can't do at the age of consent, you limit freedom and unintended consequences invariably result. Far better to recognize such marriages as legal, and try to include these "cults" in the cultural mainstream where their more extreme ideas are bound to be adjusted to the norm in the long run. __________________ Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.