Every society has its own standard of what they find acceptable regarding many universal practices. To me nothing shows how these differences take an effect on others than the word taboo. To me taboo means a practice or belief of a society that may not be acceptable or may even be illegal in other societies because it gives off negative stigma. This term, when readily applied to different practices other than your own, can lead to misinterpretations and even prejudices that can prevent common ground on many issues. The institution of marriage is so diverse in every different society that it has taken on both universal and particular taboos.
To understand this we must define marriage by our society. In the United States the institution of marriage is based upon or ideas of romance, love, and free-will. The majority seems to be of the mind that one man and one woman should be in love and take their vows before God for it to be recognized as a “real” marriage. Anything that violates the romantic or religious ideas of marriage can be considered taboo by our society, which can include polygamy, arranged, and same-sex marriages. To me they seem to each hold a unique characteristic that makes them so taboo to our society.
Polygamy is a marriage structure that has one man or women having more than one spouse. The prevalent form involves one man having more than one wife. This can be considered taboo because of the view that many have of polygamy. Some see it as purely sexual gratification on the part of the single gender involved. To many the idea of more than one partner defeats the idea of love and marriage which seems to be the preference in the U.S. Religion can also be attributed to the reluctance or acceptance to practice polygamy. About 5% of Utah has Mormons that practice polygamy, and they hold a big percent of those that do practice this form of marriage even though it is illegal in the U.S. Also polygamy is practiced in other parts of the world for various reasons including the sustaining of bloodline. In many African tribes their Islamic religion permits them to have more than one wife as long as they are able to provide for them economically. For many of these tribes having more than one wife is more for economic reasons than for anything else. Can we say that those who practice polygamy, such as Mormons or those in Togo are doing something wrong just because it violates the majority belief in the U.S. and creates a taboo when compared to our own definition? It may be because of religious beliefs about one man and one women or it may be because of the romantic idea of marriage, either way polygamy seems to still threaten some regarding the sanctity of marriage, but it is not the only form of marriage which threatens our society’s beliefs.
To read more: http://jg1020.pbwiki.com/Jessica+Billick
No comments:
Post a Comment