Polygamy or not?

Question

Should polygamy be allowed?
If yes, what are the advantages of polygamy?
If no, what are the disadvantages of polygamy?

Answer 1

From a biological perspective it's not only allowed, it occurs all the time. Many fathers have children by multiple mothers, and many mothers have children by multiple fathers. Nor is it the tawdry thing people often assume - some people have multiple legal marriages, the first having ended through no fault of their own.

And again from a biological perspective, polygamy is probably a good thing. A larger diversity of genes provides a greater potential for unusual combinations to arise with beneficial effects. It is also pretty obvious that from a reproductive angle, only one male is really necessary to impregnate dozens of females.

Having many people in a relationship also has a much greater potential for stability. If one person falls ill, there are more people to take up the slack. And if it takes two working incomes to support a family these days, you'd have a third person to stay at home and take care of that angle. Even in the unfortunate circumstance of death or divorce, in a sense if one person leaves the marriage might continue, albeit differently.

You start to arrive at a number problems when you consider social angles, though. A relationship with more than two people is going to have a very different dynamic obviously. No person is going to have the full attention of any one partner, though perhaps that's made up for by partial attention from several partners. Also, if desirable people are allowed to have more mates, that leaves far less for everyone else. The potential for a larger class of lonely, anxious, sexually-frustrated people is pretty substantial (or, on the other hand, maybe it will be easier for these people to integrate into existing marriages... it all depends).

Likewise it is hard enough to get two people to get along well... how well are three or more going to do it? Maybe a third person could be an impartial judge in disputes, but more likely they're going to pull in an entirely different direction and make problems far worse. It depends greatly on the people involved. I don't think there'd be much difference in the overall divorce rate - some unstable marriages would be stabilized by extra people, while some would be destroyed by them.

The elephant in the room is religion, of course. Many religions explicitly forbid polygamy, and some of their practicioners are going to want to impose this preference on everyone around them. Just look how contentious the issue has been with homosexual marriage. This would hardly be much less so. Even if it were legally permitted, I don't doubt that there would be a lot of prejudice at first.

At least that's the lay of things as I see it. There are plenty of examples of happy and unhappy polygamous marriages to be found, if you look. Just don't ask me how the law or tax code would deal with such things - it's such a complicated, snarled mess as it is, though, I don't see how it could get much worse...

Answer 2

No, polygamy should not be allowed. It is simply an excuse for adult men to have sex with as many women as they'd like. In Colorado City, AZ, 13-year old girls are being "married" to 50-year old men and being forced to bear children. They are not allowed to get an education and they basically have no rights. If the "wife" wants to leave her "husband", she gets no child support because their marriage really isn't legal. It's illegal and wrong. But to them, it's what the prophet Joseph Smith (kook) ordered in the Book of Mormon.

Also, some of these men marry their own daughters and impregnate them which in turn causes many birth defects.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there's much being done to stop polygamy which is running rampant in Utah, Arizona, and some of Texas.

In no way should polygamy be allowed. It's a sin according to the bible and it's basically commiting adultery.

Answer 3

To be or not to be? That is the question. This all depends on human thinking. In the natural sense, humans are animals. Thus human are created to commit to polygamy, like most other animals. Monogamy is created by people who believe in certain religion. Polygamy is to nature as monogamy is to religion, basically.

Answer 4

I really can't answer that question properly until we establish exactly what you mean by polygamy...

if we're talking about a system in which any adult can be married to as many other adults as they chose, that's fine with me. provided all people involved in these marriages are aware of the new additions and freely give their agreement. in other words, if a husband were to decide he wanted to be married to another woman, both he and the first wife would have to be at the ceremony, and she would have to explicitly state she was ok with the new addition.
advantages? the only advantage that matters to me is that if this was possible, i don't think there would be nearly as much cheating going on. as a song i like says "i believe that trust is more important than monogamy". i can also say that it would probably result in pooling of resources and skills, which is always a plus.
there would be a few disadvantages also, namely because i believe most polygamous marriages would be between one man and a few women, which would lead to more children. as long as they can support them, that's not a problem, but it would be really easy to have too many children.
also, most men seem to verge on insanely jealous, and i don't believe they would be as often willing to accept a new husband in the family as a woman would be willing to accept a new wife - no fair.

now, polygamy as it exists now, i strongly object to. i have a good friend who was raised in a polygamist community in Utah. among other things, she tells me she never had enough to eat growing up, because women are not allowed to work, and in fact are so uneducated that they couldn't easily find a job if they tried. her father couldn't make enough money alone to feed them all. she never felt that she had a father. she was told she was a hore because she cut her bangs once. i could go on forever. but i'll stop at this - they pass along families to relatives. a child may grow up thinking of a certain man as her father when he is in fact her cousin, and then be told that she is to marry the same man when she isn't even 16 yet. they have no say in the matter.
my friend ran away and she has never looked back since. she was smart enough to run away with a man. had she run away alone, they would have chased her down, probably given her a beating, and if she still refused to marry the man she considered her father, they would send her hundreds of miles to distant relatives in another country, to reconsider. since my friend ran away with a man, they decided she was indeed a hore, and that they didn't want her back. instead, they considered her dead, her whole family disowned her and life went on as if she never had existed. a friend of hers ran away after being married and having a few children of her own. she had to leave her children never to see them again to get away from daily doses of rape and abuse, knowing that they would be told she is the spawn of the devil and dead as far as they are concerned. hopefully at least knowing that their mother escaped from it will leave those kids with the knowledge that they too can escape.
one guy i heard about is immensely rich - he has millions, literally - and all his wives (and children i might add) lived in shacks, run down barn looking things.
there are so many kinds of abuse here i don't believe any of it should be allowed. yes, it is their religion. however, religion should not be a valid excuse for at the very least serious neglect and at worst crimes against children and women. it needs to stop. that's what i think.

Answer 5

I've met people who promoted both, people who did well either way and people who couldn't handle either. I'd say it is up to the individual's involved and whether they are psychologically capable of dealing with a relationship of the type they choose. Advantages or disadvantages lie in the type of relationship and how well those within it function. True in monogomous as well.

Answer 6

Should not be allowed. We were simply not created for it. Even in the Bible, those who had many wives experienced a lot of trouble. Abraham had to put up w/ the constant bickering between Sarah, and Hagar. Jacob too had so much head ache trying to settle the contest between Leah and Rachel. David experienced rebellion in his family, a son who raped his half sister,etc.

So, just stick to one. As one quip said: 1 troublesome wife ( or husband) is enough, why add another one?

Answer 7

Polygamy is more natural for mammals than monogamy.

Answer 8

No. One woman is enough to drive any man crazy. Any man who wants more than that is psychotic.

Answer 9

advantages
-SEX SEX SEX SEx SEX SEX and more SEX

disadvantages
-std's


well of course there are a lot more reasons..