The more severe the humiliation and trauma, the more likely its victims are to become suspicious of and paranoid about the intentions of others towards them. Once humiliated, there is often a powerful feeling that ‘the self’ will never be repaired
B.C. Supreme Court has upheld Canada’s polygamy laws, but says minors who end up in polygamous marriages should be exempt from prosecution. In a 335-page decision released on in 2011, Chief Justice Robert Bauman ruled in favour of the section of the Criminal Code outlawing polygamous unions.
Polygamy is tolerated to some degree by almost half of the world’s societies. It is practiced by only 2 percent of North Americans from a range of religious and national backgrounds. Some participants in polygamous marriages have immigrated to North America from countries where such marriage is permitted and recognized under the law. Others are members of local fundamentalist Mormon religious sects, which practice polygamy outside the bounds of secular law….
Considerable work by advocates for stigmatized groups has yielded dramatic progress in advancing social reform with the goal of fostering a culture of tolerance and understanding for personal and cultural differences (Kite, 2011). Despite progress for several traditionally stigmatized groups, other groups are not visible in mainstream American culture and remain relegated to the corners of American society. Some of these “hidden populations” intentionally evade detection so as to avoid interference from potential threats READ PAPER
Questions regarding the legal and ethical permissibility of plural marriage occupy a disproportionately large space in the public and legal imagination. This collection seeks to trace the genealogy of contemporary interest in the institution of polygamous marriage, explore arguments for and against its recognition under North American legal systems, and consider how such recognition might operate in practice. READ MORE
Over seventy percent of the societies known to Anthropologists permit men to marry more than one wife. There are consequences to each type of marriage to which certain individuals might adapt.
