Polygamy

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I don't see the need for multiple women.
But people have free will as long as its not against the law.
But still one lady's love would be enough for me.
I don't think polygamy would make any more men single as it would increase the population more than monogamous marriages.

Religions....

[img][800:768]http://pastortubbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/biblical_marriage_chart-1.jpg[/img]

What you say would only be true if there were more female children born than male children. Increasing the population of course increases the amount of females but it increases the amount of males by roughly the same amount.
Historically it was mostly the wealthy men who had multiple women I think. Kings, sultans, biblical patriarchs.
Even if polygamy was illegal, there would still be single people because other people are not required to be your mate.

For this reason I find it highly ironic that its the Mormon Church that seems to lead the crusade against gay marriage. If the Mormons had their way, so long as natural births are approx 50/50 men/women, men taking multiple wives means lots of single men with no one but each other....

Youll have to explain your logic. Why would polygamy cause the population to grow faster? And even if it did why would that solve the problem of a wife shortage? Birth rate varies by country and by era. Kenya has a higher birthrate than the USA. And the USA had a higher birthrate a 100 years ago than today. But the sex ratios of the modern USA, the 1900 USA, and of modern Kenya, are all about the same 50:50 ratio.

Yeah, that would be crappy if only men or only women were allowed multiple spouses rather than having an equal right to marry multiple spouses for both men and women, however if only polygyny or polyandry were made legal the cultural taboos against them would probably still limit the quantity of occurrences. Having it where it's legal for both men and women to marry multiple spouses might lead to awkward situations, but if polygamy isn't wrong for one gender, man, then via the golden rule it ought to be permissible for both man and woman and this would solve the other issue of causing more singleness for those who aren't as fortunate to have found someone already.

From what I read, polygyny is pretty hard on guys.

Both the guys who get wives, and have to juggle all those demands and all those personalities...

...and on guys who don't get wives.

Historically, most polygynous societies were hunter-gatherer/warrior societies, where men had an averagely shorter life expectancy than women (even taking into account things like infanticide and a 20-25% rate of maternal death associated with childbearing). It was about making sure all the women were taken care of in a time and place where you really needed 1) a hunter to eat, 2) a warrior to protect you (from the other side, 1) a gatherer to eat enough, 2) a day-in, day-out mother to successfully rear offspring where 'success' is defined as 'surviving'), and 3) at least two full-sized people to keep on keeping on.

See "fraternate/sororate marriage."

Nowadays??

To me, from a woman's standpoint, it seems like a practical arrangement. Different women have different strengths; each one takes primary responsibility for her own children and the rest of the work is divided according to who likes it/doesn't hate it/is better at it. Helps with sex, too-- unless a man angers both/all wives or is really unlucky, nobody needs to take one for the team and put out when their heart isn't in it.

In practice??

It usually doesn't work out that way. It ends up being a bonfire of competition for "first wife" status, a constant argument over whose kid did what to whom with or without provocation, who's better, who's preferred, on and on and on.

And if the competition among the average wives is that bad, how bad does it have to be among the men (only SOME of whom are going to get wives at all)??? KILLER.

They say, outside of abusive situations, that FLDS women enjoy great social power (submission notwithstanding). The men, however, tend to be shy, withdrawn, uptight, and paranoid. Anybody wonder why????

From what I read, polygyny is pretty hard on guys.

Both the guys who get wives, and have to juggle all those demands and all those personalities...

...and on guys who don't get wives.

Historically, most polygynous societies were hunter-gatherer/warrior societies, where men had an averagely shorter life expectancy than women (even taking into account things like infanticide and a 20-25% rate of maternal death associated with childbearing). It was about making sure all the women were taken care of in a time and place where you really needed 1) a hunter to eat, 2) a warrior to protect you (from the other side, 1) a gatherer to eat enough, 2) a day-in, day-out mother to successfully rear offspring where 'success' is defined as 'surviving'), and 3) at least two full-sized people to keep on keeping on.

See "fraternate/sororate marriage."

Nowadays??

To me, from a woman's standpoint, it seems like a practical arrangement. Different women have different strengths; each one takes primary responsibility for her own children and the rest of the work is divided according to who likes it/doesn't hate it/is better at it. Helps with sex, too-- unless a man angers both/all wives or is really unlucky, nobody needs to take one for the team and put out when their heart isn't in it.

In practice??

It usually doesn't work out that way. It ends up being a bonfire of competition for "first wife" status, a constant argument over whose kid did what to whom with or without provocation, who's better, who's preferred, on and on and on.

And if the competition among the average wives is that bad, how bad does it have to be among the men (only SOME of whom are going to get wives at all)??? KILLER.

They say, outside of abusive situations, that FLDS women enjoy great social power (submission notwithstanding). The men, however, tend to be shy, withdrawn, uptight, and paranoid. Anybody wonder why????

The Marx Brothers on Bigamy - could not help but be reminded of it by this thread...

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ust6bUwqqUc[/youtube]