Sister Wives?

Sister wives is an American TV show about a polygamist family. The family includes Kody Brown his 17 children and his 4 wives. His first wife is named Meri which he has one daughter with him. The second wife is named Janelle with has six children with him. The third wife is named Christine which he also has six children with and the fourth wife in which he has one child with. Down below is a chart where you can see all their children's names. 

I'm going to be honest when I first started watching this show I dislike it a lot! I juts didn't like Kody ( the husband). I felt like he was full of it. It is hard for me to believe that he is in love with every single one of them or at least that is what he claims. Umm now is this really possible? To be in love with 4 different people at the same time and love them all the same. I don't know if that's true. 

I started reading on line about what others thought about the Brown family. I came upon a very short article written by Neil Katz on the CBS News website called "Could You Survive a Polygamous Marriage?" My answer to that is Hell NO! I'm serious I honestly don't know how these women do it? Maybe because I am a jealous person but I feel like everyone is jealous it's normal. 


In the article Kody says he is polygamous because of his faith. He calls their arrangement "accelerated personal development." He also says As for sex,  he takes turns with each wife on a "schedule," but the ladies never sleep together. Now this really grabbed my attention because the women are basically sharing this man...I try and try to think like they do but its hard because I wouldn't want to share my husband. Just the thought of him being with another women while with me infuriates me. So why is it that these women take it so good? Are they human? I mean don't we all get jealous? or upset? 

I cant seem to put myself in the women's shoes because like I said before it is hard to pretend that you don't mind sharing your husband. Now I can definitely put myself in Kody's shoes because he is a man and what man wouldn't want to have four wives? Right? I mean he literally sleeps with different women almost every day of the week. It is a perfect relationship for a man. If they get annoyed or frustrated with one of the wives then on to the next. If he gets into an argument with one of them he leaves. Its win win for him either way. Maybe there's a wive that cooks better or is more fun to be around or is a good listener. I mean he has it all. I don't blame him for doing that. 

Kody and his first three wives.

On another article on the Los Angeles times Mary McNamara critiques the show. She talks about how she can't seem to take Kody serious. She says that the wives are the ones who make a the show not Kody. She also goes on explaining how these women have always wanted to have sister wives. She quotes that Christine said  "I wanted the sister wives more than the husband." 




This article made me look at things differently. It made me understand the women's point of view. A view that I was having such a hard time trying to understand. These women have always wanted sister wives. It makes sense since most of them grew up in the same lifestyles.  Maybe they never had siblings or close girlfriends maybe that's all they needed. 

In the last article/blog by Katy Hall she talks about Kody's relationship with each one of them. In this article she quotes Kody " Why stop with one good marriage when you could have four?" This to me is a mentality of a typical man. It's one of those cases where the more the merrier?  In the article they also discuss about Meri feeling jealous. She asks "How would you feel if I wanted another man?" Kody answers "Well the vulgarity of that" with a look of disgust. 

This is exactly why I don't like Kody. Why can't they have other men? He says that "love shouldn't be divided, it should be multiplied". Really, so this apparently only counts for him. I honestly feel like the women have been somewhat brainwashed by this man. I feel like they are true to themselves while hes not. In a way I hate him but then again I admire the man. Because for him to have these women crazy over him voluntarily then he obviously must be good at what he does. I'm pretty sure every man envies him. 

Now here is a link to their interview. While I was watching this I began to get really upset. When they asked him What made you want to live this life...he seemed like he had no idea what to say and then he said "faith". At the end of the interview the news cast lady ends with "Well we will leave off with one thing it is illegal". 

Beauty is pain!

I'm sure that everyone has heard the saying  "beauty is pain"? Many years ago in the Chinese culture they took this saying very seriously.


 Foot binding was the custom of binding the feet of young girls painfully tight to prevent their feet from growing. Back then if a women had big feet ( size 7 which is average in the states) they were considered ugly. Having small feet was a must! If they didn't bind their feet then they wouldn't find a husband. If you had small feet it also meant you had class back then this was very important. They banded binding of the feet in 1912 although some women still practiced it in secret. 

Picture by Louisa Lim

I was reading an article written by Louisa Lim called ""Painful Memories for China's Footbinding Survivors". This article has so much information and I loved it because we get to here it from women who went through this. One of the women's is named Zhou Guizhen and she is 86 years old. She says that she regrets binding her feet, but back then it was her only option. "Because I bound my own feet, I could manipulate them more gently until the bones were broken. Young bones are soft, and break more easily," she says.


Imagine you had to do this to your feet? Sounds extremely painful to me. It is crazy the things that we will do in order to be accepted and considered beautiful. This sounds more like a brutal punishment. 

Picture by Louisa Lim

In the South of China there are still some women with "tiny feet". They have formed a community together and they talk about their personal experiences. 


Another women named Wang Lifen also talks about her experience. She says that her mother began to bind her feet when she was 7 years old. These woman can no longer dance or walk for a long time. 


"The bandages that women used for footbinding were about 10 feet long, so it was difficult for them to wash their feet," Yang says. "They only washed once every two weeks, so it was very, very stinky. But when I was young I was very free, because when I was naughty my mother couldn't run fast enough with her bound feet to catch me and beat me."- Yang


When I read this I was shocked! They wouldn't wash their feet for 2 weeks? oh my! It is interesting because a man wanted a women with these freaky tiny feet but then again they didn't mind the horrible smell? Their feet look very weird...I honestly don't know why anyone would think this was attractive? It's just one of those things where we would have had to be there to understand. 


Beauty does hurt. 


Down below is a link to the interview...
An interview with a couple women talking about their "tiny feet"

"Life in a Day"

I really enjoyed this documentary! It is amazing on how they even started with the film. All of the clips you watch were submitted on youtube. It is a very unique film! It really grabbed my attention because of all the different cultures. I learned what different people around the world do in a day. It is an amazing film! I recommended it! 


I was reading a lot of articles/critiques on this video and everyone has had the same opinion about the film as I did. In this article Cirina Catania talks about the steps it took for this film to be created. She also enjoyed the film! Her blog/article was short but I like how we had the same thoughts about it. Together with all the people that commented bellow her blog. It was only good feedback. :)