I've never seen the show. I think I have seen a little clip about the show on TV if it's the people I am thinking of.
I can understand why some men would like the idea from the sexual aspect of it. But, morality, theology, and the ethics of polygamy aside, that would be an extremely stressful life. And when we do read about the inner workings of polygamous relationships in the Bible, there is a lot of contention there-- to steal a topic from another thread. Rebecca and Leah competed with each other for having children. One of them hired Jacob out for some mandrakes and got pregnant. I guess Jacob didn't care too much whose turn it was. Poor Hana suffered from a rival wife before she gave birth to Samuel. It doesn't sound like a happy home situation for the wives, and the husband would have to deal with all the bickering and infighting, too, and I don't see how he could connect in the same way a man connects with a wife if he has one wife.
But I suspect the polygamous men in the Mormon cults aren't always in it just for the sex. I read a little about a polygamous Mormon family where it said the husband had sex three times a week, and had four wives. He was an accountant and his church leaders were giving him more responsibility and wanted him to have more wives. I guess having more wives is a sign of higher rank in the church, and in their opinion, the kingdom, and so they dole out the wives. Surely those old guys in their 70s they call 'prophets' who have 100 wives are starving those poor women.
Reading a little about Joseph Smith, though, he probably had quite an appetite for women. He claims he started being polygamous because an angel appeared to him with a 'flaming sword.' I wonder how the conversation with Emma went when he told her he was polygamous because of a flaming sword. In Mormon scriptures, you can read Smith using prophecy, claiming to speak from God, threatening Emma if she didn't forgive him. He would have 'wives', marry them in secret ceremonies, and not tell people they were 'married.' His wife didn't know. He had really young teenage girls getting married with him to guarantee a place for themselves and their parents in the hereafter.
Smith also 'married' women who were already married. These were supposed to be spiritual marriages, with the women agreeing to be one of his polygamous brides in the hereafter, but the evidence seems to be that he slept with them, at least some of them. He'd marry older matrons who would groom the teenage girls to be his wife. My theory is he was probably more likely to sleep with the teenage girls, since at least there is some evidence of that. The method the Mormon leader could use was to send the husband away on a mission, and when he was gone, 'marry' his wife secretly.
One one occasion, Smith was pressuring some teenage girl to 'marry' him, and she refused. Then Smith said it was a 'test', I guess like Abraham offering Isaac. Others rebuked him for mishandling the Lord's name since he'd been speaking in the name of the Lord trying to get that girl in the sack... I mean to marry him.
One webpage said that Smith had a woman he'd married 'spiritually' or whatever they call it. She had a husband prior to that. After Smith died in a shootout awaiting trial for treason, Young took over the bulk of the movement. The webpage cited a source that claimed that Young told the husband of Smith's former spiritual wife that he was the heir to what Smith had, and the wife belonged to him. The husband let him take her and went off on the mission Young sent him on.
That is a really dark religion. Adultery, child molestation. Mormons seem family friendly now, and maybe they really worked at it because Smith had created a culture that just really destroyed the family.
