Polygamy

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A baker's dozen on
Human Sexuality

In some societies it is permitted for a man to have more than one wife at the same time. This is polygyny. The equivalent term for permitted taking of multiple husbands by one woman is polyandry. Both are considered forms of polygamy. Bigamy is the unlawful taking of more than one person as a "legal" partner (wife or husband).

1 Islam
2 Mormonism
3 Pro/con
4 Polygyny
5 Penalties
6 Footnotes

[edit] Islam

Before Muhammad it was common among some Arab (semitic) and Asian peoples for men to take more than one wife. While he did not ban the practice, Muhammad added the proviso that all the wives must be treated equally. Taken to its logical conclusion,^[1] this effectively renders polygamy impossible.^[2]

[edit] Mormonism

Mormons (Church of the Latter Day Saints) used to condone polygamy^[3], but (being subject to the laws of the countries in which they live) no longer overtly encourages it: "These days you can be kicked out of the Mormon church for practising or even writing about plural marriage." ^[4] Fundamentalist Mormonism continues the practice, illegally, in isolated communities.

[edit] Pro/con

There are several arguments regarding polygamy.

Religious:
God forbids/permits/requires it.
Societal:
What about the kids? What about women's/men's rights?
Legal:
Property and inheritance.
Moral:
It's disgusting (I'm jealous).

[edit] Polygyny

Historically, the most common form of polygamy has been polygyny (one husband with multiple wives), while examples of polyandry, women having multiple husbands, are extremely rare or non-existent in most societies. The Old Testament contains numerous examples of polygamists, including that old perv King Solomon, who had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

One reason for the precedence of polygyny over polyandry may have been patriarchal attitudes favouring female servitude. Another aspect is the practical consideration that it is possible for one man to have multiple wives pregnant at the same time, and thus increase his family all the more quickly or ensure a successor to inherit his estate. Having an heir was crucial in pre-modern societies, and being married to an infertile wife could be disastrous for any landowner or leader, while polygyny brought safety in numbers. It also served to balance out gender ratios if many men had been lost fighting in wars.

However, any society where polygyny was widely practised would remove a large number of women from the marriage market and leave a large number of unmarried men (if we assume that there has generally always been an approximately equal number of adult men and women). Hence it would only be a sustainable system in a society where a large number of men were also removed from the marriage market, for example as slaves or eunuchs, or, as mentioned above, due to military service.

It seems probable, however, that polygyny in cultures such as ancient Hebrew civilization was only practised by a wealthy minority who wanted large families, or like Solomon, who collected wives as a sign of status.