I started watching the latest episode of Sister Wives thinking that it wouldn’t be that interesting since Kody and the clan was headed out to visit his family on their ranch in Wyoming. I was totally wrong. Kody’s 75 year-old dad is a polygamist and he married Kody’s second wife Janelle’s mom three months before Kody married Janelle (17 years ago. Did you follow that?) Kody’s dad and Janelle’s mom hit it off when Kody brought Janelle and her mom to meet his family. Janelle’s mom then became Kody’s dad’s second wife – I think. (It was unclear how many wives Kody’s dad has had in his life, but it looked like he just has two now.) Kody wasn’t raised polygamist but his mom convinced their dad to try it. She was probably sick of cleaning up after his ass.
Janelle explained how her mother met Kody’s dad: “My mother was trying very hard to support me, so she came with me to visit the family just to see what it was all about. She also became intrigued with the faith and so she made the conversion to the faith and then she actually married Kody’s dad… This is not anything funny going on, it was just a matter of circumstance.”
Sheryl, Janelle’s mom, explained “I got to know Winn [Kody’s dad] and then I actually became quite attached. It didn’t work that way with Genielle [Kody’s mom] and I.”
Genielle, Kody’s mom “When Sheryl came into the family. I had a difficult time, because I was jealous. She was beautiful, she was educated, she was vibrant, and I took care of kids and she took care of Winn and so it was a difficult thing for me for quite a while.”
Sheryl “It’s been a while, but we’ve worked through all of those things.”
Genielle “I consider her one of my very best friends now.”
That’s some serious “faith” that makes women take care of kids and clean up around the house when their husband takes a new lover, brings her home and rubs it in their faces. According to what Kody said it was his mom’s idea to become polygamist though, just like Kody’s first wife Meri supposedly convinced him to become a polygamist too. Now Genielle and Sheryl are best buddies. Janelle and Kody and the gang commented that now that Winn is getting up in years their moms Genielle and Sheryl are a great comfort to each other on will probably outlive the husband they once fought over. (The fought over part I added, they didn’t say that.)
Also on Sister Wives this week, one of their cars broke down during the trip and the motor was totally shot so they had to decide to scrap it or pay over $5,000 to get it fixed. They seem to be hurting for money but meanwhile Kody is driving a two seater Lexus and they just moved to Vegas. I learned on TMZ that their new homes in Vegas are rented, not purchased, though and that they live in three houses spread among them. You can still assume that they’re doing much better financially since the series premiered, but at least they haven’t gone full Gosselin yet.
I’ll say something nice – I was kind of moved by how much it means to this family and to Kody’s mom that they’re coming out as polygamists. They’re basically the first people to do this and it’s a huge deal to them. Kody seems really upset by the pending felony investigation against him at the time (it’s since been closed) but I also get the sense that he just loves being on camera and is eating up the attention.
Plus Kody is a selfish ass. He even bragged about how his mom would do anything for him and then took a bite of her breakfast burrito before she had a chance to taste it.
So getting back to this family thing – that makes Janelle Kody’s stepsister, right? I didn’t come up with that.
Second and third screenshots above via Houston Chronicle and Seattle Post Intelligencer
DAYUM.. This family is all kinds of crazy.
Not me, no thanks. Gay marriage should be legalized.
Polygamy.. well, just not for me. ewww.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. These people are just effing kreepy.
I think that story is all types of gross but as long as they are all consenting adults let’s just leave them alone to carry on the crazy.
So….what would happen if one of the wives who is not legally married to Cody happened to meet another man…would it be acceptable for her to carry on with that other man or would it be considered cheating on Cody?
Brainwashed twits, the lot of them.
We don’t really have any polygamist Mormons in Ireland (that I know of!) however we do have Gypsies, or Travellers who have similar patterns of behaviour – apart from the polygamy! Take your female children out of school at 11, have them clean the caravans and mind their younger siblings, make sure they are married off by the age of 16 (often to a cousin)and start their own families asap, then take their own eldest daughter out of school at 11 etc..etc..
Make sure all the girls aim for is marriage and a big dress, limit their horizons by keeping them illiterate and closeted from the rest of the world…
So he is married to his step-sister…it’s like (Kody) hey, DAD meet my soon-to-be wife and we are gonna have six kids together. Hey son, I dig your soon-to-be wife’s mom – she’s hotttt….ewwwww
This polygamy thing is bad enough, now it’s technically a big family orgy…again – ewwwwww
An organizational chart would sure help to explain this thread. Gives a whole new meaning to “Keeping it all IN the family”.
I definitely do not agree with the polygamist lifestyle (seriously… who the hell agrees to having a night of the week for sex? You get Monday, you over there in the corner get Tuesday, I get Wednesday, Barbie you get Thursday, and Fridays we have an orgy)
That being said, as mln76 said, they are all consenting adults, so as long as they aren’t a drain on the system (like Octomom) who cares what they do? Some days I wish there was someone else here to help with my kids and with the cleaning. I would call that person a NANNY.
@Anoneemouse: Meri said something to him to that effect awhile ago and he told her that just the thought of that happening was completely disgusting.
well, at least they’re keeping it in the family. 😉
I don’t agree with the lifestyle, but hey, to each his own, I guess.
As for me, I could have used an extra wife around here this weekend. Lazy husband lounged around while I ferried kids back and forth to practice, parties and their events. He just sat there reading a book…and then decided to go upstairs to take a nap.
It was rough.
This is one family tree that needs some serious pruning.
I love my best friends. I love having them in my home, I love visiting with them, cooking for them, and I don’t mind cleaning up when they leave. I do NOT want them sleeping with my man. This is just…it’s weird to me. I don’t like it and I don’t get it.
only 1 ring for Kody? he should have rings on his four fingers. is it because he was only married once?
Kody has serial rapist eyes, plain creepy.
I couldn’t help it, I was watching that show last night and that guy is stoned out of is mind. He seems to be one of those hippy types disguised as a religion. The women, on the other hand, look like they came straight out of Michelle Duggar’s womb.
All this family is creepy. I have watched a couple of shows and it is crazy that children will be raised to think that all this is normal.
I get a lesbian vibe from Meri, his wife #1
every time I see this guy on Tv, I want to take a bath
#18 Nikki?: If I was married to that guy I think I’d start batting for the other team too.
You would be surprised how many women are open to their husbands getting second wives. I grew up in a community where polygamy was deemed ok by some members but not the norm. My dad didn’t have more than 1 and didn’t believe it was ok. I had several women ask me if I wanted to be introduced to their husbands and if I was interested in being a co-wife. It was creepy to me but the women asked like it wasn’t strange. I always wondered why they seemed so eager. I think one factor is many women in those situations don’t have as much freedom and time to hang with friends and figured a co-wife would fix that. In my community the wives were supposed to live in separate homes and the men were expected to afford more than1 households.
Ever since I began watching Big Love and heard myself talk about it to friends (who usually raised their eyebrows and said “how strange” when I described the plot line) I realized how much I didn’t think polygamy is all that strange.
30 years ago, you’d be hard pressed to find one straight person who thought gay marriage was a good thing, now, many, many people think it should be legal and fight to make that happen.
I can’t help but think in another 40-50 years the “weirdness” we see when we look at a polygamist marriage will be mitigated and future historians will look back and read these posts and think how simple and narrow minded the people of 2011 were…
Just something to keep in mind.
We shouldn’t judge by our own culturally specific perception of “normal”.
@Bopa, that’s really interesting.
Married young to someone you hardly know or even find attractive, no independent income, totally reliant on your husband and housebound. I suppose having a sister wife would alleviate the sexual demands, help with the housework and be a bit of company.
God how sad.
its the fundementalist way
women are meant to reproduce and belong to husband/church
as soon as a womans single they marry her off
people are siblings/cousings/auunts all in one!
he’s basically just a spoiled kid with being raised by 4 wives.
So one of his wives is one of his step sisters? Ewwwww…
I don’t know what the math is – for his first wife, she probably didn’t want to have s ex as often as the guy wanted, yet she didn’t want to divorce him because of the child… She figured that could have been a smart decision, yet there are no smart decisions when it comes to a relationship like that. I guess a couple is just a couple, afterall.
I really don’t understand these people, and I am really trying hard…
@Stephy2585 – I like your reasoning, but I remember reading the Bible growing up and those controlling evil men thought it was okay then to have multiple wives and 2,000 years later we still think it is weird and there are many of us women not going to let a man run over us with his stupidity. If I didn’t like the guy I could see having more than one wife so he would leave me the heck alone, but then again, I wouldn’t marry someone I couldn’t stand.
This is so weird and gross. Call me judgmental, I don’t care!
It’s not normal to share your husband with your “best friend” yet go on about “there was no funny business”. UM! It would be normal for the wives to be involved too because at least there would be more balanced!
A triad, while not the norm, makes a heck of a lot more sense than so-called plural marriage!
All you have to do is watch the episode for 10 minutes before it becomes painfully obvious that Kody is a full short bricks of a full load…those crazy cult eyes, his way of thinking…he’s emotionally a teenager and I can’t believe he’s raising 16 children. His wives seemed intelligent at first, but to marry someone like that, something must be wrong with them
Well of course he is (rolls eyes) Like this is any kind of a suprise.
I don’t think one can make a true comparison between gay marriage and polygamy, besides both being considered taboo. Both gay and straight marriage are meant to be egalitarian and monogamous. Polygamy is patriarchial and archaic.
@bopa, sounds as though the husbands are sending their wives out to recruit new ones. Less courtship more cult-ish.
Until I see this “convenient” faith reversed — i.e. Woman with several husbands, I am OUT.
This is a trend that should never, never be considered by any woman….it appears to be a way to live cheap…..by compromising on the part of women who are economically and educationally….challenged, to say the least.
Gay marriage, of course. That is equality. This…is Playboy for the “religious.”
If this were your family could you imagine trying to explain your family tree to anyone that is outside of the family.
@MorticiansDoItDeader:
I’m so glad you said that! You’ve succinctly summed up what I’ve tried to put my finger on in the arguments comparing marriage to polygamy. (Gay, straight, whatever, I refuse to qualify. Legal Marriage is legal marriage, period, and federal denial of access to marriage is unconstitutional under the 10th amendment, as is the DOMA enacted in 96. States rights are another story, but everyone should be able to get married in VT and have it recognized in their own state.)
It annoys me when people keep saying they are “consenting adults.” They are “consenting adults” WITH CHILDREN. So the kids just don’t matter, huh?
I don’t meant to be crass, but… by the time the fourth wife gets her “night” with Kody, his Kandy Kane has been in 3 other women. BARF. That just seems 10 shades of wrong to me.
Ugh, these people make me want to switch teams the way they worship these useless men.
Everything about this arrangement sounds great except for one thing. I mean they all work outside the home except for the one who takes care of all the children. They share house cleaning, cooking, raising the children, money – so far so good. BUT the sex stuff sounds very bad. Seems Kody is an ultra horney spoiled brat who is used to getting his way. They all pamper him so he has it made. He somehow found women to go along w/ this. They all seem happy so who are we to judge? He only legally married one so he’s not too stupid. I guess he’s a good con artist. What else can u say?
Oh god…they were here, in MY state! That is SO NOT COOL. I wonder whereabouts the ranch is located, just out of curiosity.
I can’t co-sign Morticiansdoitdeader (@32?) enough. Polygamy is nothing but patriarchal and archaic. To compare it with gay marriage is…well, it’s not the right thing. Uhm…crap. I can’t think of something to compare it to, but I don’t think gay marriage is it. I am totally for equal rights for same-sex couples, though^.^ Not so much the polygamy…unless the wives have their own lovers, á la Monica ^.~
I was raised with Catholics and Mormons in AZ and IMO the situation with Kody is all kinds of wrong. Be fruitful and multiply is his focus and forget about the rest as he’s nothing but a serial cheater and user, gratifying his own needs at the expense of everyone else, especially the children involved, under the guise of religion and family. That the women in his life choose to support this is one thing, but allowing their children to be exposed to this kind of crap is just plain wrong. Kody driving a fancy two-seater sports car and moving the family to Las Vegas – to live in separate households – says it all. @Morticians, I agree, rant over.
One other factor that tends to be left out of the equation with polygamous relationships is the overall community that is created. The sex ratios of humans are roughly 50/50–50% male and 50% female. When one man has more than one wife than other men are doing without. That tends to mean that women clump around a few prominent males. Young men are perceived as competition and are often driven out of the community as undesirable. In some cases, literally, dropped off in the larger cities in the area and made to fend (often poorly educated) for themselves. There are consequences of unequal marital relationships that we sometimes don’t consider which is another reason why this isn’t the same as gay marriage nor something that should be easily accepted with the passage of time.
@trollydolly
Yea I’d say many of them were in that type of situation. Controlled by their fathers and then shipped off to another man to marry. There were several ministers who had smaller congregations in our community and my dad was one of them. He didn’t support holding women back, arranged marriages or multi-wives. All of his daughters went to college graduated and dated/married who they wanted to. Wish I could say that co-wives were a strange occurance for me but I’m glad that my dad didn’t support it.
Muslims have been doing this for 100’s of years….its nothing new. It was originally written in the Koran…not a big deal, just a big deal to the western society. Many women still live in purdah in harem’s in the middle east and Pakistan.
@Disbelieving – I agree.
Kody has 13 children plus the latest 3, for a total of 16 children. His children are between the ages of five and fifteen, they lived in this house in Lehi, Utah, does this look like a family home set up for children? And what is in store for the boys and girls who are becoming teenagers?
http://starcasm.net/archives/60376/attachment/682101
Anti-icon, Playboy for the “religious”-FTW!
I think you described it best.
I don’t remember the Nick, but wanted to add: you can’t really compare Gypsies(Roms) to this: they are of totally different culture and way of life than today people of europe: they originally came from india( it is thought). Those are the people who have been prosecuted and murdered bc of who they are(Hitler), and are discriminated in most of the europeans countries where they live. On the other hand, i’ve met a number of them, who establised themselves in villages and are hardworking, fair and ready to help when you need it. Judging them is the same Like judging the way of BUshmans.
If people have a problem with the patriarchy and the inequality of the relationships, then take up your issues with the Mormon theology that breeds these beliefs. THAT is where the disgust belongs.
Plural marriages are not inherently unequal, sexist, or abusive. They are relationships held by consenting adults. The abuses that might lie therein should be placed squarely at the feet of the religious and social groups supporting and promoting the injustice. It’s not the plural marriage itself. It’s like that old chestnut that being gay should be illegal because so many child molesters rape boys. Well yes that is true, but some child molesters being gay does not equal all gays being child molesters. Some abusers living plural marriages does not equal all plural marriages housing abusers.
Furthermore, saying most polygamous marriages are abusive thus there is something inherently dangerous about the situation doesn’t wash either. That is what we call a false correlation. There is a statistic that the average Oprah viewer is something like 4 times more likely to be depressed. Does that mean Oprah makes people depressed? No, it means those with depression are more likely to tune into Oprah (based on several factors). Plural marriage does not make people abusive, but it may come across as very attractive to the abusive.
Banning plural marriage because abusers use it and/or it may be abused by users some sects abuse it is impractical and unfair. If the law were to permit plural marriages, both polyandry and polygamy aould be legal, without prejudice. THIS is the job of the law: to uphold what is fair. Not to regulate behaviour according to what society deems “normal” or “not icky”
Banning consensual marriage is a slippery slope, people. You either want the governments in your bedrooms or you don’t. You can’t have it both ways.
And ohmyGOD Kody is a smarmy individual. 4 wives or none…he is just revolting. REminds me of the kind of guys who would try to pick you up on the bus, which he is riding only because of his DUI.
@Zelda
I completely agree!!!
You’ve articulated that so nicely!
There is alot of vast generalizations happening in these posts. Ie: polygamy is this. Gay marrriage is that. Monogomy is this. Etc, etc.
Relationships are what people make them.
There are no inherent attributes for a given combination of love…
“Kody has serial rapist eyes, plain creepy.”
Then perhaps it’s a good thing he has all those willing women.
@Lady D; if he’s a serial rapist,having 50 wives won’t stop him from going out to rape other women.
polygamy is actually fairly common in some parts of d world and while it’s never d best,it doesn’t necessarily mean uneducated children and poverty;how it plays out depends on d tradition, religion and individuals involved.
d wives are usually not friendly to each other or even trying to be.lol
Ah Zelda, it’s no slippery slope at all. Plural marriage has been banned and the Mormon Church was the reason. They just don’t talk about their own religious history, because they would like it to be forgotten. It was a bloody, failed social experiment. The prophecy was that WIDOWED and OLD women would be “married” into the family so that they would not be left homeless, penniless. However, that prophecy was abused by the human beings who could not practice it…..and young girls became the favored new wives; and guess what: old women, widows, were left out of marriage and became powerless and alone and penniless. Plural marriage did not help anyone, but it created a lot of mistreatment for women and children.
@anti-icon
It’s like you did not read my argument at all.
I understand very well how he Mormons abused plural marriage. That is very clear. That does not make plural marriage intrinsically wrong. It makes Mormons wrong.
Millions of people abuse alcohol. This does not make alcohol wrong. The US government misused nuclear power. This does not make nuclear power wrong. Marriage–monogamous marriage–has led to the abuse, degreadation, and entrapment of women, men and children in various ways for millennia, but no one here is arguing that monogamous marriage be banned (In fact, I personally know zero polygamists, but I know several people in unhealthy sexual/marital arrangements). There are many, many things that range from neutral to good on this planet that can be misused with disastrous results. This does not mean that they are inherently bad.
The Mormon church’s use of polygamy is hardly an adequate “social experiment” for plural marriage since a) it was practiced in a group with strong bias against women to begin with and b)it permitted polygamy but no polyandry. This would taint the entire “experiment”. In fact, this would render it all but useless as a fair sample.
@MeriJaan
Actually plural wives goes back before the Koran.
Gay marriage should be legalized.
Polygamy.. well, just not for me. ewww.
Apples and oranges. I certainly don’t consider myself left-wing, but gay marriage doesn’t hurt anyone.
Subjugation of women is pretty much a requirement for poligamy to flourish. Fuck the consenting adults theory – keep it illegal!
I finally watched an ep of this. It was the one where Janelle bears her and Kody’s sixth child. I was touched by the happiness of everyone individually, and the apparent well-being of all the kids. I can’t begin to tell you how appallingly sexist I think this form of polygamy is (though I have no problem with the idea of polygamy overall, between whomever). But I was taken way off guard by how well the machine that is this family appears to run.