Hey Look, A Better Article on Polygamy

So many articles on polygamy portray polygamy only as polygyny, and Muslim or FLDS-style polygyny at that. But Amanda Jacobs, writing to Dixie State College students, explains the facts up front.

Take the word polygamy for instance: It is a reference term for all relationships involving more than one person, not just a man with many wives.

According to definitions found in Webster's dictionary, there are actually three types of these relationships: polygyny, where a man has multiple wives at the same time; polyandry, where a woman has more than one husband at a time; or group marriage, where a family consists of multiple husbands and multiple wives.

Thank you for that. She then goes on to write about three people who grew up with polygyny.

Williams wants people who didn't grow up in the religion to remember that there is good and bad in everything.

"Most of these [polygamists] are good people," Williams said. "They aren't trying to destroy the world. It is just another religion that is just trying to gain their salvation."

And their marriage is not a threat to anyone else's.

DSC Student Danalee Dial, a junior theater major from St. George, didn't grow up in Colorado City, Ariz., or the surrounding communities, and also didn't have the stereotypical old-fashioned clothing that one would expect a polygamist to wear.

In fact, Dial wanted to make it known there are many different types of polygamists, and not all polygamous families are alike. She said her childhood was quite normal and her family wasn't a part of a certain religion.

Polygamy is normal for some people. Normal families, where good things, bad things, and silly thing happen, just like in other families, are polygamous.

All of the former polygamists interviewed said they felt their lives were pretty average growing up. But one strong message found through their interviews is that maybe life within polygamy isn't much different from any other one and to never judge another lifestyle without fully knowing about it.

Thank you, Amanda Jacobs. We need more articles like this one to aid in the fight for the freedom to marry.