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Sister Wives


Alecto

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Except for Christine's repeatedly referring to those outside of the faith as "wolves". I.E. "The kids can't have a social life, because that's feeding them to the wolves." OR "They can't go to that church because it's full of wolves!"

Ah, you are correct. I just figured that since the kids all seem to hang out with kids from "normal" families that they didn't judge too much. Could wolves mean some more aggressive polyg groups too? I'm not making excuses, I just wonder if they are trying to keep their kids away from the polygamy groups that encourage underage marriage and other things. I bet that even most of the "better" polyg groups have some nefarious things going on (including whatever group it is that the Browns belong to). They did seem critical of the school that their kids used to attend that was run by their church. I'd think public school, especially in LV would be wolf central and that they'd try to homeschool. But, since they didn't go that route I'd assume that they aren't that afraid?

Then again I think Christine is also afraid of toasters too? She strikes me as having intelligence, but being so naive that she'll believe anything she reads... zero ability to think critically. She also seemed to think that paying a single water bill late would ruin her otherwise good credit....and she just always seems so confused.

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Ah, you are correct. I just figured that since the kids all seem to hang out with kids from "normal" families that they didn't judge too much. Could wolves mean some more aggressive polyg groups too? I'm not making excuses, I just wonder if they are trying to keep their kids away from the polygamy groups that encourage underage marriage and other things. I bet that even most of the "better" polyg groups have some nefarious things going on (including whatever group it is that the Browns belong to). They did seem critical of the school that their kids used to attend that was run by their church. I'd think public school, especially in LV would be wolf central and that they'd try to homeschool. But, since they didn't go that route I'd assume that they aren't that afraid?

Then again I think Christine is also afraid of toasters too? She strikes me as having intelligence, but being so naive that she'll believe anything she reads... zero ability to think critically. She also seemed to think that paying a single water bill late would ruin her otherwise good credit....and she just always seems so confused.

Nope, she was talking in one instance about public school being full of "wolves" and in another about how the mainstream protestant church was full of them.

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They also haven't shown any judgement of people who don't follow their beliefs.

I must respectfully disagree and submit the following two points:

1. Last season Christine referred to Presbyterians as "sharks" when stating she did not want the Brown kids to mix with non fundamentalist kids in a church group; and

2. Despite repeatedly saying that the kids were free to practice or not practice the Principle (i.e. plural marriage), Kody, Janelle, Christine and Robyn have repeatedly said that they would be upset (disappointed, would think they had failed, etc.) if the Brown kids did not practice plural marriage. Case in point, Christine is shown in the previews for next Sunday's episode saying she is not 100% in favour of the teens' upcoming trip to help those who want to leave polygamist communities, presumably because these folks do not want to follow fundamentalist Mormon beliefs.

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This isn't necessarily true. There is many a compound house to be found in the Salt Lake city area (some empty now since so many polygamists have moved out of Utah). There are several walled "compounds" near where I grew up that include many homes, each with multiple wings and kitchens. They are extremely hard to resell, as you can imagine.

And in Colorado City, there are NUMEROUS compound homes - it helps that the FLDS are very involved in the construction industry and they can make their own!

Many of the very early Mormon polygamous marraiges involved a man marrying a woman whom was already in the household as a maid or a boarder or marrying his wife's sister. They often stayed as one household until many children made them outgrow the home or the husband could afford a second home. It tended to be the men with more than three wives who maintained many different households from the beginning of each marriage. Once they were in Utah, having your whole household under the one roof like Brigham Young was held up as the ideal, although it wasn't always practical.

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Many of the very early Mormon polygamous marraiges involved a man marrying a woman whom was already in the household as a maid or a boarder or marrying his wife's sister. They often stayed as one household until many children made them outgrow the home or the husband could afford a second home. It tended to be the men with more than three wives who maintained many different households from the beginning of each marriage. Once they were in Utah, having your whole household under the one roof like Brigham Young was held up as the ideal, although it wasn't always practical.

Even Brigham Young had multiple homes for his wives. Sometimes, more then one wife would live in the same home (like the Beehive house and Lion house) and sometimes a wife would live alone. Some wives who were already married were even sealed to Brigham Young but still lived with their legal husbands. This would have made a great reality show.

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I must respectfully disagree and submit the following two points:

1. Last season Christine referred to Presbyterians as "sharks" when stating she did not want the Brown kids to mix with non fundamentalist kids in a church group; and

2. Despite repeatedly saying that the kids were free to practice or not practice the Principle (i.e. plural marriage), Kody, Janelle, Christine and Robyn have repeatedly said that they would be upset (disappointed, would think they had failed, etc.) if the Brown kids did not practice plural marriage. Case in point, Christine is shown in the previews for next Sunday's episode saying she is not 100% in favour of the teens' upcoming trip to help those who want to leave polygamist communities, presumably because these folks do not want to follow fundamentalist Mormon beliefs.

Meh. Toasters kill more people every year than sharks do, dontchaknow.

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I think any parent would want their kids to follow in their footsteps, and I would be pretty surprised if they were aloof on the subject. However, they don't force this lifestyle on any of them once they become adults, it seems.

Christine has been in polygamy all her life. She was taught to view any outsiders as personal threats to her family's safety. I think this is why she is the most emotional over the kids wanting a different lifestyle.

Janelle's kids seem to want nothing to do with polygamy. They've seen their mother struggle the most in this lifestyle (or that's what I gather). Janelle never seems too concerned about her kids going down a different path either. I feel for Janelle. I think she realized what she got herself into once she was already a couple kids deep. She did try to leave before. I personally think she stays because without her financial support, the whole family would have gone up in flames. If they really do raise all the kids as their own, she had more kids to think about than just her bio ones.

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I think any parent would want their kids to follow in their footsteps, and I would be pretty surprised if they were aloof on the subject. However, they don't force this lifestyle on any of them once they become adults, it seems.

Christine has been in polygamy all her life. She was taught to view any outsiders as personal threats to her family's safety. I think this is why she is the most emotional over the kids wanting a different lifestyle.

Janelle's kids seem to want nothing to do with polygamy. They've seen their mother struggle the most in this lifestyle (or that's what I gather). Janelle never seems too concerned about her kids going down a different path either. I feel for Janelle. I think she realized what she got herself into once she was already a couple kids deep. She did try to leave before. I personally think she stays because without her financial support, the whole family would have gone up in flames. If they really do raise all the kids as their own, she had more kids to think about than just her bio ones.

I totally agree with all of this. Janelle wants the kids to know life on the outside - i.e. she is the biggest advocate for college. She wants her kids (and all her half-kids) to know they have options. I keep thinking she may have been the convert to this lifestyle? Merie & Christine both experienced it when they were younger, and I don't recall if Robyn was raised in the faith or not. Sometimes I wonder if the fissures/emotional pain they are demonstrating now has been there for decades, but they felt like 'good girls' don't complain. In this sense, I think they are working through a lot of their past and may, hopefully, heal for the future. Or maybe I'm just an eternal optimist.

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I think a that at least as far as Christine goes, she, is a bit afraid of the outside world. Robin, Christine and Meri were all raised in families that were only a generation removed from Short Creek and have been told their whole lives that the outside world is out to get them.

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I really like Janelle, and her kids, but I don't get her. She wasn't raised in polygamy but at some point converted and she's talked about faith and how you do certain things to bring you closer to god, so I guess she has some sincere reason for this life choice. She was married to Meri's brother, so her sister wife is also her ex-sister-in-law. At some point her mother also converted and her mother married Kody's father, so her father-in-law is also her stepfather, and her husband is also her stepbrother. For so long she made all the money and says that she resented seeing Meri spend lavishly while she had to struggle to feed her kids --but then defends Meri. I think she had a good thing going with Christine--she says Kody was more of a friend than a romantic interest, and it seems that she was happy to work at an actual career, and not some half-assed pyramid business venture, while Christine was the SAHM.

I don't think she or Christine foresaw Robyn--she's mentioned how Robyn's neediness turns her off--or what her arrival would do to the set-up. Maybe (I hope) she's just waiting for her kids to leave the next before she makes a move.

It's really unconscionable that in this "one big family" two women are struggling to feed their (Kody's) kids while the other two get showered with lavish gifts. If they want to be equitable, they should do what the courts do--allot X amount of money per child, based on what it costs to feed, clothe, house and educate them. Then if the women want to divvy up the rest in equal amounts to spend on themselves, fine.

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I really like Janelle, and her kids, but I don't get her. She wasn't raised in polygamy but at some point converted and she's talked about faith and how you do certain things to bring you closer to god, so I guess she has some sincere reason for this life choice.

Playing armchair shrink for a moment, I'm guessing she may have some deep insecurities. Or for some reason, really didn't want 100% of a husband. To speculate even more wildly, could she actually be a lesbian or asexual person who wanted a family but deep down didn't want the man around all the time?

She strikes me as the most logical of the adults in the family (and she's raised some rational kids) and I do find that at odds with the whole faith thing. As an atheist, I confess that I have trouble understanding rational people who base their lives on faith regardless of what that faith might be, but their "celestial principle" is just so out there.

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Playing armchair shrink for a moment, I'm guessing she may have some deep insecurities. Or for some reason, really didn't want 100% of a husband. To speculate even more wildly, could she actually be a lesbian or asexual person who wanted a family but deep down didn't want the man around all the time?

She strikes me as the most logical of the adults in the family (and she's raised some rational kids) and I do find that at odds with the whole faith thing. As an atheist, I confess that I have trouble understanding rational people who base their lives on faith regardless of what that faith might be, but their "celestial principle" is just so out there.

I thought the same things about Janelle. She definitely has very low self esteem... just from the way she carries herself and refers to herself. After all these years she never properly stood up and said that she needs more of a share of the money she herself earns for the care and feeding of her kids? And on top of everything it comes out that she even did all the bill paying and managing of the household finances? Janelle is the responsible one who makes sure everyone else's life is going well. But, she seems to get little respect for it. At some point in her life Janelle got convinced that she didn't deserve to be loved and cherished and put on a pedestal... and that's very sad.

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Playing armchair shrink for a moment, I'm guessing she may have some deep insecurities. Or for some reason, really didn't want 100% of a husband. To speculate even more wildly, could she actually be a lesbian or asexual person who wanted a family but deep down didn't want the man around all the time?

She strikes me as the most logical of the adults in the family (and she's raised some rational kids) and I do find that at odds with the whole faith thing. As an atheist, I confess that I have trouble understanding rational people who base their lives on faith regardless of what that faith might be, but their "celestial principle" is just so out there.

If Kody was my husband then I would not want him 100% of the time. I would gladly share him so I could get some peace and quiet.

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I totally agree with all of this. Janelle wants the kids to know life on the outside - i.e. she is the biggest advocate for college. She wants her kids (and all her half-kids) to know they have options. I keep thinking she may have been the convert to this lifestyle? Merie & Christine both experienced it when they were younger, and I don't recall if Robyn was raised in the faith or not. Sometimes I wonder if the fissures/emotional pain they are demonstrating now has been there for decades, but they felt like 'good girls' don't complain. In this sense, I think they are working through a lot of their past and may, hopefully, heal for the future. Or maybe I'm just an eternal optimist.

JeanneD, would you mind sharing the significance of your avatar? Is it Aung San Suu Kyi mixed with Obama? I've been curious since I first saw it. :)

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JeanneD, would you mind sharing the significance of your avatar? Is it Aung San Suu Kyi mixed with Obama? I've been curious since I first saw it. :)

My husband's a little less politically-inclined than I, and suggested that it's actually from "Arrested Development" and not a Burmese political activist. Oops. :)

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It's a picture of Ann Veal from Arrested Development. She's the girlfriend of George Michael (Michael Cera) and she comes from an interesting fundie family. "Narrator: Soon, George Michael went to Ann's to try to win her back. But her Uncle Paul told him that Ann had moved in with her boyfriend. He also mentioned that we all only had 3 more weeks on earth and that fossils were just something the Jews buried in 1924." So there's that. Additionally her mom tries to hit on George Michael's dad. Funny business. One of my favorite lines of hers is "You must teach me, George Michael. You must teach me the ways of the secular flesh. "

The "Her?" line is because she's just so forgettable (bland) that George Michael's dad frequently forgets her.

Good example of the her?

7hVf5tKiaeU

Collection of Arrested Development quotes

v7oBAnEmklk

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Sorry if this was talked about in the previous pages, I did not read them. I noticed in the commericals (haven't watched this season) that the wives are really gaining weight. Are they stressed?

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Sorry if this was talked about in the previous pages, I did not read them. I noticed in the commericals (haven't watched this season) that the wives are really gaining weight. Are they stressed?

I think they might be on anti-depressants

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It surprises me it took me this long to make this connection, but then I only learned of part of it a few weeks ago.

Christine, early in the series (maybe the first episode?) explains why she always wanted to be a third wife. Something about growing pains and jealousy and how when you come in as the third wife you have to be cool with the other two wives, whereas a first wife gets the husband all to himself at first and has to make room for more wives, and the second wife and the first wife go through a lot of whatever.

I knew the story of the Principle already, but what I did not know, is that you need three wives to attain the Celestial heaven according to Mormon Polygamist theology. While there are, of course, other examples of PM (polygamist Mormon) men that have more than three wives, I think your average PM man has to stop at three (just practically and financially speaking, juggling more than one has to be hard, so juggling more than the minimum the Principle requires is probably not typical). I think Christine did not expect Kody to ever have a fourth wife. That explains her rattling tale about wanting to be a third wife, and also a lot of the growing pains she had when Robyn came into the family that Meri and Janelle did not seem to go through.

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I think they might be on anti-depressants

It's a possibility, as mainstream Mormon women often need anti-depressants. Another possibility is that most of the wives got pregnant before they had a chance to lose the baby weight from previous pregnancies.

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It surprises me it took me this long to make this connection, but then I only learned of part of it a few weeks ago.

Christine, early in the series (maybe the first episode?) explains why she always wanted to be a third wife. Something about growing pains and jealousy and how when you come in as the third wife you have to be cool with the other two wives, whereas a first wife gets the husband all to himself at first and has to make room for more wives, and the second wife and the first wife go through a lot of whatever.

I knew the story of the Principle already, but what I did not know, is that you need three wives to attain the Celestial heaven according to Mormon Polygamist theology. While there are, of course, other examples of PM (polygamist Mormon) men that have more than three wives, I think your average PM man has to stop at three (just practically and financially speaking, juggling more than one has to be hard, so juggling more than the minimum the Principle requires is probably not typical). I think Christine did not expect Kody to ever have a fourth wife. That explains her rattling tale about wanting to be a third wife, and also a lot of the growing pains she had when Robyn came into the family that Meri and Janelle did not seem to go through.

Yeah, I learned the magic 3 theory in Big Love when they were considering adding Ana. I feel the exact same about Christine. She always wanted to be the youngest, prettiest, newest wife. It sounds like 2nd wife is like being the middle child.... you never get the perks of being the oldest or the youngest. I think Christine believed she was the last wife as well, since all the bases seemed to be covered. 1.) Meri, first wife, first love, but with fertility issues. 2.) Janelle seems to not have as close of a relationship with Kody, and also wanted to have a full time career. But it seemed she wanted a family too, which makes this lifestyle desirable for her (at least in the beginning). No fertility issues. 3.) Christine wanted to be a SAHM, and wanted a large family and polygamy. They had one wife working pt and home pt, one home ft, and one working ft. They all had an important role.

Add Robyn, and some dynamics change. Not much for Meri, but Janelle now has to stress about finances for a 4th home. Christine loses her trophy SAHM youngest wife position. I can see why Christine was so upset about Robyn. She had to give up the most of her prior identity to include her.

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Thanks for explaining the significance of a 3rd wife. I always just figured it was a "be content in whatever situation" and so since she was the third wife she just decided it was the best. Makes sense now.

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Yikes, Christine was laying it on pretty thick last night. Like she really didn't "know" that these abuses were going on in the FLDS? Uh-huh. She came off like a total dingbat.

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Yikes, Christine was laying it on pretty thick last night. Like she really didn't "know" that these abuses were going on in the FLDS? Uh-huh. She came off like a total dingbat.

I noticed that, too. I wonder, though, if her reaction is evidence of extensive brainwashing, rather than outright deception.

My mother is still a true-believing Mormon and up until recently, she was implicitly supportive of polygamy. Her attitude was, "well, if they are consenting adults and they're not hurting anyone, then leave them alone." She's been in the church for 60+ years and had no clue about the rampant abuse in the FLDS community until the Warren Jeffs story went mainstream.

Honestly, I didn't even know the FLDS existed until I left the church. The Mormons are pretty hush-hush about anything ugly related to the church. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Christine were the same way. I know she's not a mainstream Mormon, but so much of the same techniques are used in both churches. I think they use the same home teaching materials and I see a lot of Mormon indoctrination in her.

I was thinking that Janelle was looking pretty fed up lately. She's got a brain cell and I've noticed her sort of "checking out" during the interviews. I think she's so done with everything.

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