Do you have a good argument against polygamy that doesn't have to do with religion?

Question

I don't see why polygamous and gay marriages shouldn't be legal. If consenting adults are choosing the relationship, what's the problem? No religious arguments, please.

Answer 1

There is no argument possible against consenting adults.

Answer 2

The problem with polygamy (remember polygamy was practiced in the bible so I don't see any religious argument there most of the time the religious argument is used by people who want to practice polygamy) is that when you have so many different women or men how can you really develop a meaningful relationship? I wouldn't want my husband to share with someone else what he shares with me. Also what about the children? Usually many children are born of these types unions. How can they get all the emotional attention they deserve (male or female) if their mother or father has a bunch of other families to deal with?
Gay marriage is only a problem if children are brought into the relationship. No doubt a same sex couple could raise a child better than some heterosexual couples but if they do decide to adopt (as an early childhood educator) I believe that a romodel (of the opposite gender of the couple) should be established early on (perhaps a Godmother/father) to be in the child's life. These gender relationships are very important in early development. Other than that to each his own.

Answer 3

Religion aside. Polygamy costs a lot of money. Think of it like this. In most polygamous relationships of the past the man worked outside the home and brought in the money. The women worked inside the home/homes and maybe made some side money doing laundry or something else they could do from home. The women ran the house and stayed very busy doing it. Any money the man had left after paying the bills for all of his houses, buying groceries, and paying for clothes and health care was VERY little if any. Most in the past were able to deal with it because they raised their own food and didn't have braces, cars, college, retirement, and huge amounts of debt like we do now. Polygamy without a religous base in today's society would be near impossible, I think. Besides, women (speaking as one) can be caddy and change their minds in the blink of an eye for apparently no reason. A woman may be fine with it at first, but then something changes that she doesn't like and it's WWIII.

Answer 4

Polygamy...no religious argument here.

How would you handle divorce? Alimony? At the expense of all the other wives? Let them go without just because one vindictive wife decided to clean him out financially with a divorce settlement? Child support? If he leaves or divorces one, how do you support those children without depriving the rest of the children? How about welfare if the husband loses his job? Do YOU want your taxes to pay their support....feeding 8 wives (or maybe more) plus all those kids?

Gay marriages.....it isn't natural...even the animals don't ever do that!

Where do you draw the line? Can a consenting 65 year old man marry a consenting 23 year old woman who is border-line retarded? Can she really consent? Does she have the same level of capacity to enter into that kind of relationship? Can a consenting 19 year old marry his consenting grandmother....or does there need to be limits somewhere?

Can a consenting 29 year old woman marry a consenting a 76 year old male in the early stages of Alzheimer's....who determines his capacity to consent.....or did she trick him in a moment when he was not quite so lucid?

Answer 5

I knew of a family that consisted of two men, two women (all in a polygamous relationship) and five children. It was quite a healthy and functional family. Many such polygamous relationships don't work out so well, but who am I to tell a group of consenting adults what they can or cannot do in the privacy of their own home, so long as they don't force it on others?

Answer 6

Consenting adults should have the right to enter into a contractual relationship with whoever they so choose, as long as all parties consent legally. (children can't consent legally.)

The main argument in the US is all about health insurance. Seriously.

Answer 7

How about time management???
If I were in a polygamous relationship, I would imagine there would be alot of jealousy over how much time was alloted to each of the seperate wives and children.

Most men can't show an adequate amount of time and devotion to one spouse and his children, why confuse the issue more with multiple spouses and children.

Answer 8

I'd have a couple of good arguments against my hypothetical husband's hypothetical polygamy. But against my own - no, none at all, really :D. Ah wait it would be called polyandry in my case.
So yes, lemme catch the hypothetical bastard with some other hypothetical wife and he'll see some rrrrrreally good hypothetical arguments comin!
:))

Answer 9

Polygamy and gay marriage are apples and oranges!!!!!!!

Gay marriage is between 2, yes two, consenting adults!!!!!!!

Polygamy is multiple wives. As a woman I would not like to be one of many wives.

Answer 10

I would say that Polygamy has to lead to envy. Although there may be cases where it isn't the case, but only when the women are indoctrinated to submit wholly to the man, and that is done with religion.