Sweden mulls legalizing polygamy--America will follow
Frescoe
by Mannerist painter Paolo Veronese—San
Giorgio Maggiore Convent, Venice-Italy
by Joseph
Earnest October 20, 2017
Newscast Media STOCKHOLM—Sweden has recently been caught in a hot debate about polygamy. Plural marriage is being supported by members of Sweden's growing Islamic diaspora, as well as proponents of open relationships, such as polyamory.
Sparked by a case of a Syrian polygamist being granted several
luxuriousmunicipal homes and fueled by a children's book enlightening kids about diversity and traditions in some of the "new Swedes'" countries of origin, the polarizing debate about polygamy still rages on in Sweden.
According to Islam expert and pre-school teacher Suad Muhamed, Sweden, which currently is one the few European nations to recognize polygamous marriages concluded abroad, should go for a full-on acceptance for the sake of its growing
Muslimdiaspora.
"All
Muslims who believe in the Quran and the Prophet's way that a man may
marry several women," 32-year-old Suad Muhamed told Swedish national
broadcaster SVT, calling it "hypocrisy when a man has a wife and,
say, ten mistresses.
Suad Muhamed grew up with a polygamous family in Ethiopia, yet enjoys a monogamous relationship in Sweden. She admitted that it made her mother jealous, but contended that the acceptance of polygamy was "self-evident" for a practicing Muslim. Muhamed also suggested that polygamy was a male prerogative.
"The
common and natural way is for woman to want just one man. If a woman
wants more, then she is called something different, a title nobody wants
to have," she argued.
Polygamy is also keenly supported within Sweden's multi-partner circles, albeit without gender restrictions.
I
think it should be legal to marry several people, both for men and for
women," Emma Lundlin, an active proponent of polyamoria, told SVT,
lamenting the society's duality and suggesting that the issue of polygamy
is most often addressed from a strictly religious viewpoint, leaving
aside other non-monogamists, such as herself. According to Lundin, people
who are against it simply are afraid of change and are anti-feministic.
Previously, the idea of polygamy was supported by the Center Party Youth Wing (CUF) in anarticlefrom 2016 called "All love is good love" and penned by CUF members Hugo Pringle and Caroline von Seth.
Earlier this year, polygamy was also supported by the Liberal Party Youth Wing (LUF), in a series of tweets showcasing the party's stance. Together with
"quantity-neutral" marriage, however, LUF also advocated the legalization of incest and
necrophilia (having sex with dead bodies),which raised many eyebrows.
Yet, it
still comes as a surprise to Hillary
that 53 percent of women rejected her
and instead supported Trump. The Donald is a handful of prominent politicians
who still believes in the traditional family and that marriage is between
a man and a woman. He has also been branded homophobic for his refusal to
carry the gay flag in June, and speaking to a Conservative Christian group
that promotes family values this past week.
