The Davis family of Seeking Sister Wife seem to be dropping hints that they are more polyamorous than polygamous and that the women might be in a relationship with each other two. Last night’s episode seemed to confirm this with comments from new wife Danielle‘s friend Ariel.
When Ariel’s friend introduces her to the camera, she explains that she doesn’t know much about the Davis family, she just knows that they’re “poly,” which is more often short for “polyamory” rather than “polygamy” even though they have the same prefix.
Later, she expresses concerns that Danielle may not know what she’s getting into. Not only is she shocked that Nick has no income or employment, but she also fears that Danielle might get her heartbroken if she gets “pushed to the side or pushed to the backburner because someone else joins, someone else is more cared for or loved for, or has more of a sexual intimacy with Nick or any of the people in the group.”
This last phrase “any of the people in the group” seems to confirm that the women in the relationship are having a sexual relationship too.
During this conversation, Danielle notes that she “loves women,” so she wouldn’t have a problem with more joining the group. Furthermore, she promised Nick that she would be okay with legally marrying the next woman to join them, whoever she may be. The first two wives, April and Jennifer, are actually married to each other.
They also all share one, custom-made 12-ft bed to sleep in, which isn’t typically done when the women also don’t have some sort of deeper connection than “sister wife.” Danielle did make clear that they will have a separate room for sexual intimacy so it won’t bother the others who want to sleep when some people are in the mood. As Nick has made it painfully clear, he is almost always in the mood.
If this is true, and they all have romantic and sexual intimacy with one another, then why is it being hidden? Shouldn’t they be free to express their unique marriage as it truly is?
Even if they are in a polyamorous relationship, it still has a lot of restrictions that benefit Nick. Firstly, the woman may be in relationships with themselves, but they don’t bring other men into the relationship.
Also, Nick does not work. Instead, all of the women have fulltime jobs that support Nick while he stays home to read, write (things that don’t get published) and do nothing.
Also, Nick refuses to get legally married to anyone in this relationship. He wants to stay single and have the wives marry each other, which seems like a form of control. He says that it’s set up that way so there isn’t a hierarchy structure like in traditional polygamous marriage.
On top of all these adult relationships, April has a teenage son and Jennifer is currently expecting her first child. There are some rumors circulating online that another wife might be pregnant right now, but we can’t confirm that.
This is a lot to take on, and many, including her friend Ariel, are worried that this situation might be too much for Danielle. She’s having a commitment ceremony and has totally bought into their complicated family structure after a short period of time and still seems to be in the “pink cloud” phase of a fun new thing. In their defense, though, the Davis family does seem like it’s comprised of nice people who are respectful of each other and enjoy each other’s company, which isn’t always a given on this show.
At this point, it seems like this show would be a bit more honest and open itself up for more cast members if they dropped both the “Seeking” and the “Sister Wife” part because most of the people on the show seem to be more polyamorous than polygamists. They could allow different kinds of relationships to be on the show than just male-headed relationships and involve relationships with more than one man, or no man at all. Also, the constant seeking for someone new leads to a lot more fakery than necessary as a lot of the couples over the years seem to be “seeking” just for the show.
