America is in the middle of a very interesting debate, what is the definition of marriage? The classic notion that marriage is between one man and one woman is being challenged and morphed into a more modern partnership. This change has brought about much needed freedom for the gay, lesbian, and transgender communities. However, another group asking for marriage equality has mostly been ignored in this liberation fight, polygamist. Since the mid 1800's polygamy has been against United States federal law. For centuries, polygamy has been a hidden practice, but with new social changes, more and more plural families have made the choice to become public. The media has played a large role in what general American families know about polygamist and their lifestyle It's time to take a critical look at polygamy and what its role should be in American culture.

The first source I turned to was the book Becoming Sister Wives by Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn Brown. The Brown family has become famous since their reality show Sister Wives premiered on TLC in 2010. Kody believes that his family can help change the public's view about polygamy. He swears that hi family is no different than anyone else's (Brown et al. 3).  Kody meet his first wife through mutual friends at their church, they courted for a very short period of time before getting married. Before their marriage Kody and Mary had already decided they wanted to follow their religious practice of plural marriage, but it wasn't easy. When Kody did decide to bring a second wife into the home it was emotionally very difficult on Mary and the new wife Janelle. Janelle, felt that she was being ignored by the cute newly weds (Brown et al. 24). In their small Wyoming home it was difficult to actually display the fact that they were a family. Janelle went through many years where she told friends that she was Kody's sister who was out of work and had to stay with him (Brown et al. 43). This clearly displays the troubles of starting a plural marriage family.

The Browns use ethos strongly throughout the book, since they live the polygamist lifestyle they are credible to share their views. In my view they do have creditability, more so than even what a marriage psychologist could have about the subject. The book also pulls on pathos, as you read and connect with Kody and his wives you feel emotions since you can see that they are good people. It makes the reader question their own preconstruction about polygamy Becoming Sister Wives challenges the stasis theory of what the definition of marriage and family truly is. This book will be a source I think I will reference a lot in my further writing.

To go along with Becoming Sister Wives, Derek Jorgenson's academic article Media and Polygamy: A critical Analysis of Sister Wives, questions how the media has changed cultural norms. Jorgenson does a great job explaining the steps a subject must go through in order for it to become an accepted part of popular culture. Those stages are, non-recognition, ridicule, regulation, and respect (Jorgenson 26). These stages are something I could possible focus much of my final essay on, Jorgenson largely draws off of logos, he somehow makes watching TV seem like a mathematical equation. Jorgenson explains that the more time a subject spends in the media the more the subject assimilates into the culture (Jorgenson 32). I love this article, it really explains well how just what we watch on television over time impacts our social beliefs and policies.

In order to give the reader a more rounded view of polygamy and its history I've included a few academic articles such as However Satisfied Man Might Be by Michelle Gibson. Gibson explains the political history of polygamy in America. The Fundamentalist Church Of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints (FLDS) has a long history of abuse and legal misconduct. Historically the peak of hostility between the FLDS and the outside world occurred in 1953 when Arizona state patrol executed a raid on the Short Creek compound (Gibson 282) The Short Creek Massacre, as it would later be called by polygamist, led to the separating of mothers from their children for long periods of time. Many were forced to legally fight against the government to gain custody of their own children. It was a civil rights nightmare that fuelled the fear inside polygamist cimmunities.  Following the Short Creek raid polygamy became a even more secretive lifestyle, families were frightened of having their children removed by the government (Gibson 284). Gibson is also very logos based. Gibson mostly writes basic historical facts about the sect. She; does not give a lot of ethos to back up the writing, and since most of the information could be found in an encyclopedia she doesn't really have to establish ethos. I think this article will be helpful to form a base for my paper even though it does not hold many strong argument points.

To accompany However Satisfied Men Might Be, I have a second scholarly source that discusses many of the basics of polygamy Two Sides of Polygamy by Ryan White.  White unlike Gibson, focuses more on modern day polygamist and their turbulent relationship with law enforcement. White discusses how Nevada law enforcement has stopped prosecuting polygamy as a crime and is focusing more on prosecuting the crimes committed by polygamist (White 449) White concentrates on the stasis theory of definition, what defines a crime? Do crimes have to involve a victim? Or do that just have to be against the law? All of these questions are brought up in whites article and are important for my final essay.

All of the previous sources have failed to talk about one major aspect of polygamy, how it affects children? Polygamy and mental health of adolescents by Sami Hamdan, Judy Auerbach, Alan Apter is a scholarly article describing a scientific study the group did researching the neurological differences between children of monogamous marriages and those born into polygamy (Hamdan, Auerbach, Apter 34) The ethos of the report is strong since all the researchers have academic backgrounds. They build on this scientific ethos by adding in lots of complex words and charts throughout the article. The study was able to conclude that there is no biological mental difference between children of polygamist and non-polygamist marriages.  This finding could become the base of an argument for another essay in the future.

I want to focus on the media and how it portrays polygamy, one of my main media sources is the ABC 20/20 episode 12,039 Breaking Polygamy: secrets of the sect during the episode journalist Amy Robach follows a family that has been kicked out of Colorado City polygamist community. Robach clearly uses the stasis theory of quality to make her argument, The Suzett family is shown to be happier after leaving the sect, never is it talked about that the daughters choices have become questionable since leaving. The show just assumes that the audience is anti-polygamist, and since the episodes rhetorical situation is to respond to the Warren Jeff's arrest it's an understandable assumption. Jeffs became the leader of the Colorado City community after his father died. Jeffs then decided to start marrying many of the women who had been his mothers. He also forced members of the community to give up their daughters or wives for him to marry. Since Jeffs is viewed as a profet from god it is very difficult to convince the members of his community that he is causing them harm. I understand that he is an awful leader; I just notice the lack of representation from those who are pro-polygamy in the film. However, it would be difficult to find a spokesperson for the sect since all of its members are warned about talking to the media; I just think it could have showed more of the other side of the argument. Overall this episode will be a very helpful source for further writing.

Another documentary about polygamy Sons of Perdition follows teenage boys that have either been kicked out of or chose to leave the Colorado City community. The boys in the film have a very difficult time adapting to the new world outside the oppressive compound. Each of the boys falls into some pretty unhealthy habits, including drug and alcohol abuse.  They are even lucky enough to have a millionaire family take them in, and the boys completely disrespect the opportunity and eventually are kicked out (Meason).Many of the boys weren't even aware of basic facts taught during primary school. They were unsure who the president of the United States was or that there ever were world wars. I like this documentary; I think it shows that it's going to be difficult to find a solution to polygamy. Just removing people from the compounds doesn't mean they are going to be successful, or even happy. It opens the door to the conversation about being more honest about the flaws in our own culture. The director of the film pulls on the audiences' pathos, the boys really are sweet and you pull for them to succeed, even when it's clear they are holding themselves back.

My final source is an episode of I Escaped a Cult. During the episode Brent Jeffs, nephew of Prophet Warren Jeffs, describes the abuse he suffered for years at the hands of his uncle. Warren repeatedly sexually abused Brent when he was a child (Howell). The rhetoric evokes pathos within the audience, even though the facts are shaky its hard for a viewer not to feel sympathy for Brent. The ethos of this show is a little questionable, Brent is the only source for most of the information and that doesn't form a strong ethos with the viewer. Brent's first hand testimony will be helpful because his case if very different than most other crimes Jeffs was accused of.

All of these sources show very different sides of polygamy and the culture surrounding it. From the Brown family's happy and everyday lifestyle, to Brent Jeffs life altering abuse, polygamy has many faces. I learned through all these sources that most of all polygamy is viewed as a social harm, but I still wonder if that could just be the media creating a story. Since the media feeds us so many opinions and views that its difficult to find out what the true face of polygamy is. Is it a safe practice that should be legalized? Or is it dangerous and abusive? Is it protected under the First Amendment? These questions are things I want to focus on in further writing and these sources are great places to start.
