Is polygamy sexist?

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Question: Is polygamy sexist?

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Introduction to Question

It is claimed that the historical practice of polygamy as well as contemporary theology about polygamy and its possible extension into the eternities by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is sexist. This has been most passionately argued by Latter-day Saint poet Carol Lynn Pearson in her book The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men.

The observation that allegedly grounds this assertion is that polygamy fragments women's emotional and sexual opportunities as a wife. As Brian C. Hales has argued:

In the case of a new plural wife who would have remained unmarried if monogamy was exclusively practiced, her “emotional and sexual opportunities as a wife” are increased from zero to some fraction depending on how many other wives the man has. However, the other wives’ opportunities are diminished as a result of the new plural matrimony.

Do these assertions hold? This article will present at least one argument that they do not.

Response to Question

A Definition of Sexism

It will be most important to define our terms carefully and rigorously so as to have a good discussion of polygamy. FAIR has authored an article on sexism that may be illuminating for readers and which we encourage people to look at before proceeding.

The Higher Moral?

With that definition of sexism in mind, let's revisit a key scripture about plural marriage that we may have heard before in Jacob 2:27-30:

27 Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none;

28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.

29 Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes.

30 For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.

We see here that polygamy is the exception where as monogamy is the rule. When polygamy is commanded, part of the reason will be that the Lord wants to raise up seed unto him. Could it be that the commandment given to Joseph Smith to practice polygamy in 1831 and instituted throughout the course of his prophetic career contains a moral good that supersedes a woman's want to have the exact same sexual opportunities as a man? Let's think about it: if the Lord wanted to raise up a covenant seed rapidly to himself, he would have to command polygyny (multiple women to one man) for the simple biological reality that a woman can be impregnated by no more than one man. It is the fastest way, and indeed the only way, to raise up a covenant seed rapidly.

Hales' argument above relies on a definition of sexism most similar to DS1 (see the article for explanation). Given DS1, polygamy would indeed be sexist. But given DS6, that's not the case.

Given that the higher moral law would be to practice polygamy, it would actually be immoral of women to be too reluctant to practice it here on earth. Given DS6, the logic of Pearson and Hales is flipped on its head. It's not immoral to practice polygamy. It's immoral not to practice polygamy when commanded by God for a higher moral purpose. God declared that there were other purposes for polygamy. These are outlined in this article:

The question now would be to rigorously defend raising up a covenant seed and other scripturally grounded principles outlined in that article as a higher moral good that supersedes women's wants, needs, and even merits because it's simply not possible to give women the same access to sexual opportunities given this moral good that prior Latter-day Saints were following. We should trust that God esteems all his children equally and wouldn't give a commandment that superseded their wants, needs, and/or merits unless he had good moral and/or practical reason to. Further philosophical work on this question may reveal additional, important insights into it.

Conclusion

It is the author's hope that this article will serve as a important insight into the moral thinking of men and women everywhere whether in or out of the Church and/or applying knowledge of sexism to the Church and its doctrine, practice, and history.

Notes