Slice of Life Day 26: I want to be a sister wife

I've been obsessed with the concept of plural families for a long time and I could never figure out why. At first I figured it was in my blood. I come from a long line of Mormons on my Dad's side with plenty of polygamy sprinkled in among the early days. According to him, we actually still have some distant relations who are "living the principle" out in the desert somewhere in the southwestern U.S. But it's not just that I wanted to learn about the way that these people lived their lives. I wanted to be them. To paraphrase my thoughts when I realized this was the case; what the actual fuck?

I'm not religious. Polygamy is about as anti-feminist as you can get. Why in the world was this so appealing to me? Was this one of those things where the opposite of who you are becomes a fetish for you? Like control-freak CEOs who hire dominatrixes (dominatrices?) to tie them up and spit on them? My dirty little secret where I get to fantasize about being oppressed?

Then it hit me. It's not the polygamist family that I want, it's the sister wives. Think about it! Raising your family among other women who you love that are doing the same thing as you in the same place? Taking turns looking after each other's kids and working as a community to make sure everyone is happy and taken care of? That's fucking genius! And also so basic! That's the kind of shit that humans have done for millions of years and is built in to our genetic code. So why don't we do it that way anymore? Well, I could answer that question but that's a post in itself so I'll move on.

Now I'm not planning to have kids, but if I did polygamy is definitely the way I would want to go save for two main changes. Number one: there wouldn't be one husband for several women. That's a terrible idea. In fact, I don't think there should be only one husband per woman. I say let the men come and go as they please (or as the women accept or reject them) and let the women form the family group that continues throughout their lives. Number two: let's keep religion out of it. People can practice whatever spirituality they find suitable but a joint religion for the entire group starts to feel real cult-y real fast. And finally, I guess we can't call it polygamy as we aren't strictly sticking to the definition of that word. So I guess just sister-wives or plural family or something. No wait, this is my creation, I get to name it! It's the Juli Keele family structure! Huzzah!

Okay but in all seriousness I am all for the examination of stereotypical families and coming up with our own structures that work for us instead of trying to stick to some pre-prescribed formula that none of us signed up for. Make your own reality, man. That's the kind of shit I'm into. Feel free to share your vision for an improved societal structure with us. We'll listen.