Submitted by Tazkeyah A:
As a Muslim I was brought up in polygamy. Polygamy is part of my culture and my religion. In Islam a guy is allowed to marry up to three wives as long as he treats them all fairly. To Muslim theses acceptable practices are normal to us. But to other people it is seen as weird,disgusting, and even taboo. As a child I was sometimes embarrassed to tell my friends how many siblings I had and how old we all were. I was embarrassed because my mom and my ex-step mom gave birth to my sisters five months apart. As I got older I learned more about polygamy and understood it. I don't know if it is because I'm a female brought up in polygamy, but I have strong ill-feelings towards it. At the same time I have to accept it because it's part of my religion.
Growing up in a society that does not allow polygamy sort of gives you different views about your belief. You become accustom to the western culture while still trying to hold on to your own subculture. This is related to what we learned about social location. Because of the environment I live in certain principles takes a back seat to environmental influences. Whereas, over-seas polygamy is accepted and known, so children are brought up with better understanding that polygamy is part of their culture values in their society.
To end, although America is made up of thousands of different cultures, people are still culture shock when something derails from their social norms and is introduce into their way of life. I believe it's hard for anybody growing up in the western society who religion views doesn't fit the "normal" criteria. American values monogamy and that is why polygamy is seen as taboo and will never be accepted. This environment will always have some kind of impact on people religious values, and subcultures.
As a Muslim I was brought up in polygamy. Polygamy is part of my culture and my religion. In Islam a guy is allowed to marry up to three wives as long as he treats them all fairly. To Muslim theses acceptable practices are normal to us. But to other people it is seen as weird,disgusting, and even taboo. As a child I was sometimes embarrassed to tell my friends how many siblings I had and how old we all were. I was embarrassed because my mom and my ex-step mom gave birth to my sisters five months apart. As I got older I learned more about polygamy and understood it. I don't know if it is because I'm a female brought up in polygamy, but I have strong ill-feelings towards it. At the same time I have to accept it because it's part of my religion.
Growing up in a society that does not allow polygamy sort of gives you different views about your belief. You become accustom to the western culture while still trying to hold on to your own subculture. This is related to what we learned about social location. Because of the environment I live in certain principles takes a back seat to environmental influences. Whereas, over-seas polygamy is accepted and known, so children are brought up with better understanding that polygamy is part of their culture values in their society.
I really appreciated your blog, especially because I am a part of and understand Western civilization's norms and values. From a perspective of Westernized way of thinking, I understand why polygamy in your religion would be viewed and deemed as something "taboo" or even "unacceptable" to their society norms.
ReplyDeleteBut we should consider that USA does consist of many diverse religious and traditional cultures with many different aspects that may or may not accept with American society views as acceptable or unacceptable. This could make it easier to be relate to each other's difficulty in society to achieve a form of acceptance. It's even more apparent when we are open-minded to accept one another's religious lifestyles and cultures.
I'm happy to read that you've invoiced your opinion, perspective, and story with us. Thank you!
JungBum Hur. said..
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I understood the whole paragraphs what you already wrote, and I want to say thanks to you because I didn't know many facts about the "Polygamy" before I read about this topic. As you already mentioned above, I think most of people in the world know the monogamy is a section of law and it is ethically right.
In addition, the rates of both sex are not equally maintained because of the mannish society. However, the polygamy I cosider that is promoting the unequal sex rates as well and I am not a person who have never experienced the polygamy at all, so I don't accept the ideology.
Anyway, I think the polygamy is not efficiency for world society of sex rates, but I want to appreciate about your topic because now I can know some parts about polygamy than I have known. Thanks Taz!