What is Polygamy? Please Participate in this Question and Answer Post
What is Polygamy? Please feel free to add your thoughts.... also to the next post "Why Polygamy?"
One of the most frequently asked questions on our forums and in the chat room on a daily basis is..... What is Polygamy?
Technically Polygamy means more than one spouse. Literally translated from Greek "polys gamos" meant "often married"
The term polygamy then covers both polygyny and polyandry.
Polygyny - A man with more than one wife. This is the most common meaning of the word Polygamy and is also called Plural Marriage.
Polyandry - A woman with more than one husband.
Not to go too far here but according to the Ethnographic Atlas Codebook, of 1231 societies noted, 186 were monogamous. 453 had occasional polygyny, 588 had more frequent polygyny, and 4 had polyandry. At the same time, even within societies which allow polygyny, the actual practice of polygyny occurs relatively rarely.
So 1041 societies out of 1231 have some form of polygyny occurring.
While most of us have been trained from childhood to look to a monogamous marriage of 'one man and one woman' western society today practices a form of serial polygamy with more than 50% of all marriages ending in divorce and most of them remarrying. This puts the children into a relationship with multiple moms and dads - sometimes several times overs. Half siblings, step-siblings, step-parents and the list goes on, were not common 50 years ago and yet, are today. Serial Polygamy.
Interesting note from The Population Reference Bureau:
"In 2008, nonmarital births accounted for 41 percent of all births in the United States. Although roughly half of these nonmarital births are to cohabiting couples, these unions tend to be less stable and have fewer economic resources compared with married couples. Therefore, declining marriage rates put more children at risk of growing up poor, which can have lasting consequences for their health and future economic prospects"
In many polgamous households the children of different mothers look to each other as full brothers and sisters and often times no distinction is made as they are one family. Children know who their "natural" mother is but have strong bonds with the other "moms".
As one long time plural wife said (paraphrased) "My feelings toward the children of my husband are much more tender than a step-parent to step-child because we are all one family"
Today some practice or "believe in "' polygamy as a religious tenet, while others claim it is a simple matter of choice, one which they believe should be open to all free people. Lawrence V Texas, which lead to the overturning of the anti-gay laws in many states, certainly will come in to play in our court systems regarding plural marriage or polygamy.
The argument if polygamy (polygyny) was legalized there would be hoards of un-married men around simply holds no water based on the above statements from Ethnographic Atlas Codebook which bears repeating ... "At the same time, even within societies which allow polygyny, the actual practice of polygyny occurs relatively rarely."
Thoughts??
Yes. What is polygamy?
Yes. What is polygamy? From a natural perspective, polygamy is the sober recognition of the reality that women have always outnumbered men in society, and that it is not possible for all women to marry a man. Either due to the natural scarcity of men at birth, which is always at a ratio of 4:1. This scarcity has always existed regardless of the widening disparity of the number of men to women created by wars and diverse external and internal sovereign conflicts and social engineering policies. Whereas, in some Asian countries, namely China, and some Islamic nations, who have a strong bias towards siring male children, either due to the social contraints imposed on how many children parents can have, or in those instances where women and girls are considered chattel or second class citizens.
Then, from a historical point of view, and by that which is common to man's entire history around the globe, is the natural practice of polygyny which was always widely used in every era of man - until recently.
Also, from a Christian/Hebrew perspective: Christians mistakenly argue that God did not approve of polygamy. Yet, the whole chronicle of the Holy Scriptures consists not only of polygamy, but of Just Laws and Statues made by God to govern the right use of it. Christendom has always been in denial of the irrefutable fact that God never condemned or judged it, nor did He ever make it a sin or abolished it. Modern Judaism has also made an error in abandoning the practice to conform to Western and predominantly Gentile moral standards, when their religious laws allow for the practice of it.
Polygamy is an effective social and moral protection mechanism for addressing most of societies ills. As the use and practice of it would significantly impact the need for the following: prostitution, porn and the sex industry; adultery or fornification, caused by men who behave rashly regardless of the consequences and for women who are impulsive, burning and lonely; divorce and remarriage; many marital conflicts of which are sexual in origin; sex trafficking; Sexual and financial inequalities and rivalry. Illegitimate children and impoverished families; It also addresses birth rate imbalances which cause populations to decline, so that countries as in the West need to bring in foreign migrants; Death-Will contestation problems and disinheritance; abortions and abandoned children. Including modern societies reaping all the negative social ills of single parent dysfunctional families, street children and Welfare incumbents.
It means that women do not have to compete with men for the same jobs, so that they can spend more time working together rather than competing against or fighting with each other (for men or for their affections), so that they can do part-time or temporary jobs without having to sacrifice themselves into dividing their time in higher education - being unsupported - keeping two jobs, or in high income, demanding professions, where they have little access or time for their children. Nor will they have the need to be single parents who have to work outside normal working hours in order to bring in an income. It means overwhelmingly, that women can spend more time building a strong, loving and moral family. It does imply that they would not have to worry about breaking under the pressures of single mother parenthood, either by mental illness, stress or any other physical ailment, illness or affliction. Men also would not have to worry about certain issues of marital unfaithfulness, that is, if they conduct themselves properly and decently.
It is not difficult to see that single women can therefore date and marry a married man, if they are attracted to him, without fear of any consequences or reprisal and married men can take desireable women with confident impunity.
The Islamic model of Polygyny is often regarded when researchers consider any negative aspects of polygamy, without considering that certain Islamic countries prevent women from working, or in having an education, or owning anything or running their own businesses, hence the strong and persistent impoverishment which those nations continue to endure. This is easily refuted when considering Western polygyny, where many families are very affluent, because there may be income coming in from several breadwinners.
Polygamy is truly a fully freeing and a satisfying experience to those who practice it. Where it both liberates and rejuvenates our men, women and our flagging societies.
The problem but not the cause..
When we look at the decline of Western Civilisation, there is an undeniable but strong relationship between the West's financial demise and its moral erosion. Where once, when we could typically see one man being the sole breadwinner of the family, who could manage to support his own family of 4 or more children, this is now no longer seen except perhaps amongst the most highly paid in western societies. Now, the situation has changed so much due to monetary inflation and technological advances, so that employers expect their staff to work longer hours, usually unpaid in order to justify the labour costs they are paying. Technology has had a large role in reducing the large numbers of staff formerly required work in all areas of work, so that employers are demanding more efficiency from their employees too, so that companies can continue to compete with competitors in the same market and with cheap labour that is outsourced from abroad. We now notice the differences on which monetary inflation and new technology has had on our moral decline, where both parents have to meet their constantly increasing working demands and rising costs. This has adversely affected the attention and moral education which young children receive from their parents, due to them having less time to nuture their children and to fellowship with them. In a growing trend where parents have too little time for their children, and in some cases, in cooking for them proper meals. Where parents are so weary today that they have little interest in anything else except in resting.
We see the effects of these changes to our working environment, with couples having children at a much older age or later in life. Far more people are remaining single for longer and marrying later. It should not be forgotten that when a couple decide to make a family, it is usually the woman who decides to stay at home.
Why should it be obvious to us, when we consider all of these things, that polygyny solves all of these peculiar western problems in several ways? Polygyny allows the man, who is usually the main breadwinner, to continue working, whilst one wife bears children or looks after several others for her sisterwives. This gives any of the other wives the freedom to continue working or studying without worrying about the pressures and commitments of work or further education. Also, the effect of reduced income due to child rearing does not significantly affect the family's financial status or prospects. Of course, this is all ideal, however, from an adverse view, it could be that one man may support several women who are either pregnant or child rearing. This is far more favourable than having one single women, out of work and dependant on the Welfare system, to look after herself and her child/children. This is because several women in a family can work collectively together to share resources and provide help and moral and companionship support. It may lead them to decide on who goes to work and who stays to look after the children. Therefore, we can see women working collectively together as a family.
It has been constantly argued that matters such as contentions, jealousy or envy and other nefarious problems can and do arise in multiple partner relationshiops. However, it is never considered that the same problems do occur in strong and lasting marriages and relationshiops at some point in peoples lives. Yet, it is never argued that this should be a reason why people should stay away from monogynous relationships.
If we consider the problems which potentially could arise from China's single child policy, we can already see illegal and contentious issues such as homosexuality amongst men being discussed, debated or considered for future legislation. There are already major problems with women being kidnapped to be wives for men in villages outside the major cities. It is probable that we could expect to see polyandry to become another major sexual, relationship practice in the near future, even if it is illegal and outlawed.
Polygyny issues are rising in countries such as Russia, Uzbekhistan, Israel, Canada, and in some respects in England, France and Germany, though for different reasons - due to there being large resident Muslim populations.
Polyandry is very rare, but where it is practiced today, it is due to there being a stark shortage of women in obscure *places.
*Please note what places?