Abstract
This article examines the reality television show Sister Wives (2010–), which focuses on the Kody Brown family, members of a religious group called the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB), in turn part of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS). The Browns practice a form of “progressive polygamy” that both they and the show establish as quintessentially egalitarian, American, and normal, though not normative. Sister Wives indicates that the complex structural dynamics of progressive polygamy create individuals who can thrive in a neoliberal milieu where good choices matter more than governments and where being savvy about the image yields currencies that are monetary, cultural, and, ultimately, spiritual. Surprisingly, the kind of flexible labor modeled on Sister Wives and endemic to neoliberalism authorizes itself through the language and idioms of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) social justice movement. However, while espousing a gay-friendly social justice agenda, the market logics of Sister Wives appropriate LGBT politics in the service of family commercial enterprises.
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