(no subject)

While driving today, I heard a promo on NPR several times for a story on polygamy. When it aired, it turned out to be an interview with a woman who had written a book about her miserable experience in a polygamous marriage while a member of a fundamentalist Mormon cult.

I have nothing but compassion for the women and girls who are trapped by religion, family and a lack of economic or legal resources into virtual slavery. But it occurred to me: the past couple years, there has been a bit of a fashion for stories about polygamy. But among the scandalous stories of victimization and the more neutral profiles of polygamous families, I can't think of any story I've seen about polyamory.

To put it another way: why is the media interested in telling stories about non-monogamous relationships where men are the sole power in a household of victimized and abused women, but not stories about non-monogamous relationships between equal, consensual partners where women are autonomous and able to form relationships with any men or (gasp!) women they choose?

Here are the potential reasons I can think of:

A) The media is more comfortable portraying women as powerless victims in relationships where men are in charge than women who are empowered and in charge of their own lives.

or

B) The media is only interested in telling stories that fit their own pre-conceived notions and don't want to show positive examples of a practice of which they don't approve

or

C)Rupert Murdoch is the devil

or

D) All of the above.