Polygamy: Sims Style!

I watch Sister Wives, that show about the Fundamentalist Mormon man with four wives and sixteen children. I absolutely love it, I think the women are smart, sassy and fun and the kids are adorable. I think anyone would be lucky to have just one of those women, and he's got all of them. Luckiest guy on the planet!  Of course, at times I felt desperately sorry for them. Watching the ups and downs of the Sister Wives really made me think about:

a) Whether polygamy is really the moral and social evil that people think. I know it often has an ugly side but done right, as the Browns do it, it doesn't look so bad when everyone's consenting.

b) What would polygamy really be like/feel like/look like?

So what does someone like me do in this situation? Why play it out on the Sims 3, naturally, Watson! In my Legacy family (family in which you try to reach 10 generations) I have my very first Polygamist family. Just four generations after I had my first same-sex couple on Sims, which was heaps of fun.

But, I've discovered, not as fun as polygamy. I'd like you to meet my little virtual people.



This is Esther De Le Morte, Fourth Generation Heir



This is her marrying Edgar Jawa



And THIS is her marrying Tucker Granger at the Courthouse



How did I get one sim woman to marry two sim men? Surely the game doesn't allow that? It doesn't, and I didn't. Tucker and Esther, that was a legal, bona fide sims wedding. Edgar and Esther just threw a party, held hands and kissed and then I put wedding rings with all their outfits. But if you think about it, that's exactly what polygamists do anyway. Only one wife is legally married to the guy and the rest consider themselves married on their terms. Certificate aside, for all intents and purposes, they are married. And such it is with Tucker, Edgar and Esther. They think they both married her, I think they both married her and none of us care much that the game thinks Edgar is merely a 'romantic interest.'

I bought each of them the 'no jealousy' lifetime reward so that one Hubby can walk in on Esther making out with the other and not bat an eyelid. Then I let the mayhem begin.

They live in a symmetrical house, built around a central courtyard/graveyard. Each husband has his own lounge, dining, bed and bathroom. At the front is Esther's personal space for painting, reading, dressing etc. She has no bed as she switches between her husbands' beds. At the back is a large shared kitchen. The top story has bedrooms for all of the eventual children.

I could go on for days about my sims, and there will be more instalments about this family, but for now I'll jump straight to: What My Sims Taught Me About Polygamy (some of these are no-brainers but they were reinforced by my Sims)

1)That the discrimination must be really hurtful and frustrating. Rumours float around my sims town ad nauseum that "Esther De Le Morte has been found cheating!" She spends half her time at the courthouse suing for slander. It makes them all very unhappy, because she isn't cheating. It must be frustrating to have people labelling your relationship something it isn't.

2) That it can be difficult to tell which husbands' the father of your latest baby. This would only be a problem for polyandry (one woman, multiple men)

3)That your two husbands can be BFFs

4) That it's really nice to go out to dinner with one husband and know that the other is home taking care of your babies.

5)That it's not so nice when your wife forgets that she slept in the other husband's bed last night and she misses your night.

So there you have it. Non-traditional family model exploration is a hoot and a half. To sims players out there, I thoroughly recommend you try a polygamist family. Don't believe me? Look how chuffed they all look!