Monthly Archives: January 2022

This article is about the reality television series. For the 2000 Israeli documentary, see Sister Wife. For the general concept, see Polygamy.

21st-century American reality television series

Sister Wives is an American reality television series broadcast on TLC that premiered on September 26, 2010. The show documents the life of a polygamist family, which includes father Kody Brown, his four wives (Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn) and their 18 children. The family began the series living in Lehi, Utah but has since moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2011 and the unincorporated township of Baderville, Arizona (northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona) in mid-2018.[1][2]

Brown and his four wives have stated they participated in the show to make the public more aware of polygamist families and to combat societal prejudices. Brown believes his polygamist arrangement is legal because he is married legally to only one woman (Robyn), while the other marriages (to Meri, Janelle and Christine) are "spiritual unions".

The show follows the lives of Kody Brown, his wives Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn, and their 18 children.[3] In the first season, the show televised Kody's courting of and marriage to his fourth wife, Robyn, in 2010.[4][5][6] Robyn was the first new wife to enter the family in 16 years.[7]

The only legal marriages have been between Kody and Meri, until their legal divorce in September 2014, and Kody and Robyn from December 2014, in order for Kody to legally adopt Robyn's three children, Dayton, Aurora and Breanna. Kody's marriages to Janelle and Christine (for their entirety) and to Meri (after their legal divorce) are considered "spiritual unions".[5][8] As of 2020, Kody has been married (formerly legally and now spiritually) to Meri for 30 years, Janelle (spiritually only) for 27 years, Christine (spiritually only) for 26 years, and Robyn (formerly spiritually and now legally) for 10 years.[9] Kody and Meri have one daughter, Mariah. Kody and Janelle have six children: sons Logan, Hunter, Garrison and Gabriel, and daughters Madison and Savanah. Kody and Christine have six children: daughters Aspyn, Mykelti, Gwendlyn, Ysabel and Truely, and son Paedon.[10][11] Robyn has three children from her first marriage (which was monogamous): son Dayton, and daughters Aurora and Breanna. Kody legally adopted them in June 2015. Kody and Robyn have two biological children: son Solomon and daughter Ariella. Kody and his wives have three grandchildren, Axel and Evangalynn (both Madison's children), and a third from daughter Mykelti.

Meri, Christine and Robyn were all raised in polygamist families, but Janelle was raised in a monogamist family. Months before the marriage of Janelle and Kody, however, Janelle's mother entered into a polygamous marriage with Kody's father.[7] Although Christine's mother left the faith, she remains supportive of the family dynamic. The Brown family belonged to the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB), a Mormon fundamentalist group. For years before the series, the family kept their polygamist lifestyle what they called a "quasi-secret".[12]

In the Autumn of 2009, independent producers Timothy Gibbons and Christopher Poole approached Figure 8 Films, a North Carolinian company, with the concept of a reality series about the Brown family. Bill Hayes, the president of Figure 8 Films, said the company agreed to the idea after meeting with the Browns and deciding their lives would make a great story. Camera crews shot footage of the family in mid-2010 to be used in the first season,[12] ending in May with the marriage of Kody Brown and Robyn Sullivan.[13] The crews continued to film them afterwards in case the series was picked up for a second season. Sister Wives was publicly introduced on August 6, 2010 at the Television Critics Association summer media tour in Beverly Hills, California. The series' first episode, an hour long, was broadcast on TLC on September 26, 2010 and the first season continued with six half-hour chapters until October 17, 2010.[12][14]

The broadcast of Sister Wives came at a time when polygamy and multiple marriages were a prevalent topic in American pop culture. Big Love, the hit HBO series about fictional Utah polygamist Bill Henrickson, his three sister wives, and their struggle to gain acceptance in society, had already been on the air for several years. In early September 2010, the drama series Lone Star, about a con man on the verge of entering into multiple marriages, premiered on Fox but was quickly canceled after two episodes. When Sister Wives debuted, actress Katherine Heigl was in the process of developing a film about Carolyn Jessop, a woman who fled from a polygamist sect.[15]

In October 2010, TLC announced it had commissioned a second season, which began in March 2011.[16] A TLC interview with the Brown family was broadcast on October 31, 2010,[17] and a one-hour program featuring the honeymoon of Kody and Robyn Brown aired on November 22, 2010.[18]

The series led to the Brown family being investigated for possible prosecution. The family later sued the state of Utah, challenging its criminal polygamy laws. The Browns prevailed in the district court in a 2013 ruling, but a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ordered the case to be dismissed on standing grounds in 2016.[19]

Considering its sensational subject matter, TLC's "Sister Wives" has been refreshingly modest. The stars [have] a natural, honest presence in a genre fabled for the camera-hogging antics of Jersey Shore. Rather than merely emphasizing what's different about the Brown family most obviously, their "plural marriage" Sister Wives shows us how normal they seem: loving and good-natured around their children, occasionally prone to envy and feelings of betrayal.

Schuyler Velasco, Salon[20]

Sister Wives drew national media attention after its first season[21] and garnered generally mixed reviews from critics. Washington Post staff writer Hank Stuever called it "refreshingly frank" and found most interesting the small details of the family's everyday life, such as the food supply, division of labor, and minor arguments.[8] Los Angeles Times television critic Mary McNamara said she was intrigued by the matriarchal nature of the polygamist family, a unit that is traditionally considered patriarchal. McNamara said the wives form the center of the family and that "their bonds appear far stronger and more vital than the casual fondness with which they all treat Kody".[22] Salon writer Schuyler Velasco praised Sister Wives for introducing viewers to unfamiliar subject matter and called it "refreshingly modest" considering its controversial subject matter. Velasco said it has "a natural, honest presence in a genre fabled for the camera-hogging antics of Jersey Shore".[20] Shelley Fralic of The Vancouver Sun called it fascinating and surprising and was impressed with the sensible and articulate way in which the family defended their lifestyle.[7] When the Brown family made an October 2010 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, talk show host Oprah Winfrey said she found particularly fascinating the relationship between the sister wives.[23]

Mark A. Perigard of the Boston Herald criticized Kody Brown for opening himself and his family up to potential criminal prosecution by appearing in the series, describing him as "a lawbreaker who is risking himself and the family he claims is so precious just to star in his own TV show".[9] Elizabeth Tenety of The Washington Post called the series "one part domestic drudgery, another part sensationalism" and claimed it relied on a "familiar reality TV recipe" shared by other TLC series such as 19 Kids and Counting and Kate Plus 8.[3] Religion Dispatches writer Joanna Brooks shared Tenety's perspective, criticizing the show for presenting polygamy in a manner that "is about as interesting to me as Kate Gosselin's latest makeover." In this vein Brooks criticized the show for not engaging the theology of plural marriage and for letting Kody Brown's superficial comments about the dissimilarity of Fundamentalist and mainstream Mormonism pass onto the viewers without any critical scrutiny or added nuance.[24] Shari Puterman, television columnist with the Asbury Park Press, felt the sister wives had issues with jealousy and self-worth, and she compared Kody to a cult leader. Puterman added, "I can't speak for everyone, but I believe in the sanctity of marriage. It's sad to see that TLC's capitalizing on people who don't."[25] Former prosecutor and television personality Nancy Grace criticized the show and said she believed Kody Brown should go to jail, but she expressed doubt he would, based on Utah's history of overlooking polygamy.[26] Christine Seifert, an associate professor of communications at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, said the show could give viewers who are unfamiliar with the LDS church the incorrect assumption that polygamy is accepted by the mainstream church.[21] Several commentators have taken notice of the fact that the family's religious convictions are downplayed in Sister Wives.[22][24][27]

According to Nielsen Media Research, the 26 September 2010 one-hour premiere episode of Sister Wives drew 2.26million viewers,[28] a strong rating for the network. It marked the biggest series debut for TLC since Cake Boss launched in 2009 and was a stronger rating than any of the season premieres for HBO's Big Love.[29] The remaining episodes of the first season were each half an hour long, with two broadcast together each Thursday. In the second week, the first episode drew 1.88million viewers, while the second drew 2.13million.[30] The third week drew similar results, with 1.89million viewers watching the first episode and 2.05million watching the second.[31] Sister Wives drew its strongest ratings during the fourth and final week of the first season, with 2.67million viewers for the first episode and 2.74million for the season finale.[14] As a result of the 2.7million average viewership for the two episodes, TLC ranked first among all ad-support cable channels in the 1849 and 2554 age groups. The series drew double- and triple-digit ratings gains in all key demographics and ranked second in ad-supported cable network shows during its time period.[32]

Kody Brown, along with his wives, filed a legal case in the United States federal courts challenging the State of Utah's criminal polygamy law.[33] The Browns prevailed in the district court in a 2013 ruling, but a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ordered the case to be dismissed on standing grounds in 2016.[34] The Tenth Circuit concluded that, because local Utah prosecutors had a policy of not pursuing most polygamy cases in the absence of additional associated crimes (e.g., welfare fraud or marriage of underage persons), the Browns had no credible fear of future prosecution and thus lacked standing.[35][36]

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Sister Wives - Wikipedia

KATHMANDU, JANUARY 1

Nepal Police record shows that 9,240 cases of crime against women were recorded with the police in the past five months across the country.

Among the various nature of crimes, 7,329 complaints registered with the police were related to domestic violence.

The heinous crime of rape was rampant, wherein a total number of 993 girls and women above 18 and 104 young girls were raped. In average, almost three women were raped every day and one girl was raped in almost every three days across the country in the past five months, as per data.

Similarly, a total of 331 rape attempt complaints were filed with the police during this period.

Another largely prevalent crime against women was polygamy.

As many as 351 cases of polygamy were registered with the police in the past five months. Similarly, 19 cases of child marriage, 76 cases of women trafficking, 12 cases of unnatural sex and 25 cases of witchcraft violence were registered with the police.

Despite such a high number of crimes against women, Nepal Police record shows that these crimes are declining.

A comparative research of similar crimes during the same period last year shows that majority of these crimes have dropped significantly.

For instance, a total of 1,096 women were rape victims from mid-July to mid-December in 2020.

A comparative study of two data during the similar period of the year shows that the incidents of rape have decreased by almost 10 per cent this year compared to last year.

Similarly, witchcraft violence declined by 32 per cent in the first five months of 2020.

As many as 37 cases of witchcraft violence were recorded during that period.

Similar data on cases of child molestation and child rape decreased by over 32 per cent in the first five months of the current fiscal. In the first five months of the last fiscal, 37 cases of child rape and molestation were recorded.

Crimes against women registered to the police are said to be just the tip of an iceberg.

Quite often, the victims or their family members don't come forward to report such crimes to police.

Mostly, perpetrators of domestic violence go unpunished in the country as majority of women choose to keep silent rather than report such incidents to the police.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 2, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.

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Over 9,000 crimes against women in five months - The Himalayan Times

NEWCASTLE, United Kingdom A Stone Age tomb is giving the world a look at the human races oldest known single extended family, according to a new study. Researchers in the United Kingdom say they found DNA from Stone Age Britons who lived in the nations West Country about 5,700 years ago.

Mapping DNA from the bones and teeth of these individuals reveals 27 of the 35 bodies were close biological relatives. This includes five continuous generations that descended from four women, who all had children with the same man.

Study authors note that polygamy and adoption were common in this era. The group lived around 3700 to 3600 BC a century after scientists believe early humans started farming. Scientists discovered the bodies in a burial monument (a long cairn) on the edge of the Cotswolds-Severn region in the U.K.

This study gives us an unprecedented insight into kinship in a Neolithic community, says first author Dr. Chris Fowler of Newcastle University in a media release.

The tomb at Hazleton North has two separate chambered areas, one accessed via a northern entrance and the other from a southern entrance, and just one extraordinary finding is that initially each of the two halves of the tomb were used to place the remains of the dead from one of two branches of the same family. This is of wider importance because it suggests that the architectural layout of other Neolithic tombs might tell us about how kinship operated at those tombs.

Researchers add the cairn is the best-preserved Neolithic tomb in the country. Their study is the first to reveal the structure of prehistoric families in detail.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, also provide new insights into the kinship and burial practices of our Stone Age ancestors. The cairn more than 350 feet long and up to six feet high had two L-shaped areas north and south of the main spine.

Early humans laid their relatives to rest inside these chambers, with men generally lying next to their fathers and brothers. This suggests Stone Age society was patrilineal, with later generations lying in the tomb based on their connection to their male forefathers.

The team also discovered two female family members who died during childhood. However, a complete absence of adult daughters suggests their bodies are in the tombs of male partners with whom they had children.

The choice of burial in the north or south chamber appears to be dependent on who the first-generation woman descends from. It indicates these women were socially significant in the memories of the community. Early humans may have also welcomed step-sons into their family, according to the team.

There were males whose mothers were buried in the tomb, but not their biological fathers. These women also had children with a man descended through the male line.

However, the eight who were not biological relatives of those in the family tree show that being a blood-relative was not a requirement for entry into this tomb. Study authors note three of these were women who may have had a partner in the tomb. They either did not have any children or had daughters who reached adulthood and left the community.

The excellent DNA preservation at the tomb and the use of the latest technologies in ancient DNA recovery and analysis allowed us to uncover the oldest family tree ever reconstructed and analyze it to understand something profound about the social structure of these ancient groups, says co-first author Iigo Olalde of the University of the Basque Country in Spain.

The study hints at a polygamous society where adoption was common and paternal and maternal lines of descent were important.

This study reflects what I think is the future of ancient DNA: one in which archaeologists are able to apply ancient DNA analysis at sufficiently high resolution to address the questions that truly matter to archaeologists, adds co-author Prof. David Reich of Harvard University.

Scientists believe the Neolithic period was a time of human advancement where farming took hold and sedentary civilization became feasible. Farming culture made its way to Britain thanks to migrants from Europe around 4,000 BC enabling the abandonment of hunter-gatherer lifestyles.

They brought with them agricultural techniques and the previously untamed landscape quickly became more ordered. This period ended around 2500 BC, leading into the Bronze Age.

It was difficult to imagine just a few years ago that we would ever know about Neolithic kinship structures. But this is just the beginning and no doubt there is a lot more to be discovered from other sites in Britain, Atlantic France, and other regions, concludes co-author Prof. Ron Pinhasi of Vienna University.

South West News Service writer Mark Waghorn contributed to this report.

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Ancient DNA in a Stone Age tomb reveals the worlds oldest family tree - Study Finds