Goodbye Bill

Like many people in the Poly sphere Big Love was part of the Poly Zeiteist, whether we were motivated to become Poly after becoming fans, whether we used it as a discussion tool or whether we spent a lot of time telling people that 'our Poly relationship is NOT like that'!

It is part of our world and like any relationship that has ended we have to process it and let it sink in.
I said on the boards yesterday that I thought Sister wives killed any spin off potential for BL. BL was ground breaking and it led the way for SW.  I still feel we are a long way from Polygamist sidekicks on mainstream sitcoms but the tracks have been laid, at least they have in America.

Unlike the US, we here in the UK do not have many Mormons and certainly not m/any FLDS (if there are any they are so underground they can be considered Trolls) we do have a few Muslim Polygamists but on the whole they keep their heads down, despite the occasional unwelcome bit of persecution by tabloid rags :-
 A rare exception was the rather fun The English Harem which you can watch on You tube here:
  .


When BL started it didn't last long on UK TV, Brits couldn't really relate to the whole Mormon FLDS cultural taboo.  Sisterwives has had a similar amount of dismissive tabloid commentary and hasn't even been aired in this country (do a Google search. for Sisterwives, daily mail and see for yourself, I can't bring myself to copy that particular URL). So, the Polygamist awareness is not as strong in general over here.

I enjoyed Big Love but like many people have noted, it was not the best advertisement FOR Polygamy.  Bill was not able to meet all the needs of his partners, he was a very flawed human being and not only flawed but actually, very often, unappealing in a pretty fundamental way.  With the relationships between the wives often plagued  by jealousy, dishonesty and constant one one-upmanship, goodness knows why so many people became attracted to Poly through it.

But they did and it came in droves, every new Season foisting upon the small Poly communities (Biblical, FLDS, Muslim  and secular alike) new converts who want to be the new Bill, Barb or Margene (for some reason, no one wants to be Nicki)

For myself, I became exposed to BL around the same time as The Ethical Slut, I loved the idea of a Big Loving supportive family like BL, but wanted the egalitarian, non patriarchal version of living closer to the ethics in The Ethical Slut, I spent quite a while wondering if it was possible before I found a internet community that was welcoming on the idea.

It is my view that Big Love was a gateway to Sisterwives and as Sisterwives progresses and becomes a gateway itself, eventually peoples ideas of what constitutes a family will endure, even though Bill is long gone.




Just for fun, check out Kody Brown's new wife!!