Polygamy
Should we allow Polygamy
Bigamy – having two wives
Polygny – having more than two wives
Polyandry – having more than one husband
Polygamy in England was first declared illegal in 1604.
We are at a period in this country where liberal values and personal freedoms are taken in to account, i.e. freedom of expression and freedom of religion. Proposals to allow gay marriages have been allowed, something never envisaged by the British Government ever. One of the claims made are that the state should not get involved with marriage and love as it is between two individuals. Similarly, don’t you think polygamy should also be legalised?
Polygamy isn’t so common in the UK however there are occasional cases of polygamous relationships. It is illegal in the states but 400,000 people practice polygamy in ‘underground’ clubs. These relationships do exist and there may be some who want to open up. There are 2 million single mothers in the UK, it could be that a handful are happy to become a second wife.
Throughout, polygamy has been practiced, where men could have an infinite amount of wives. However as nations developed, it was common to marry just the one. First the monogamist Greeks, then the monogamist Romans, then it took over the world of Mesopotamia; as it was the dominant power, monogamy became the norm. But there are still some out there who practice polygamy; men list them as mistresses.
A common concept of marriage is that it’s the embodiment of love between a man and a woman, but its not always been like this, although love exists between the couple; the marriage is more of a legal contract; love grows between the couple as they age. As oppose to ‘noting every fact down, marrying them.. rowing & boredom and finally a divorce’ as we have in the west. Its not only about sex either, marriage may takes place to start a family or for some, a companion who they can travel the world together with. It’s also been about politics, to strengthen ties, to show the other party that we are one.
Check out this article of a man married to two sisters: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2138349/Mormon-twin-sisters-Vicki-Valerie-Darger-share-HUSBAND-whos-married-cousin.html
and a woman who has two lovers: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/2865991/Juliennes-life-practising-polyamory-and-has-two-boyfriends.html
More over Homosexuality is also largely promoted on a natural way of life, polygamy is also natural. If you choose to accept Homosexuality as natural behaviour of Animals then you have no reason to deny polygamy or claim it is immoral.
The Current UK Law
Marriage Act 1949. S. 11(d) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 provides that a polygamous marriage entered into after 31 July 1971 is void if either party to the marriage was, at the time, domiciled in England and Wales.
A quick look at demographics for marriage. There are 20,193,876m Males and 26,736,516m females between the ages 16 – 65. If every man was to marry, there would still be a remainder of 7m women approx.
Benefits of about £10, 000 are awarded to husbands to provide for their second wife overseas. The UK sees the ‘extra’ wife as dependants as long as the marriage is legally valid in that country.
Implications
We are monogamous nation, switching to polygamy can lead to legal implications. The most obvious is how it will affect current legislation. Amendments will have to be made to cater for more than one spouse (or maybe a new term will be made to recognise the additional partner) but also for future legislation. These include laws of property ownership, inheritance, parental rights, adoption, etc. It adds a whole new ‘person’ to society. Although steps can be made to amend legislation, this major reform will be a burden on the government that they just can not afford.
Secondly, there are the financial aspects, it costs a man an arm and a leg to look after one wife, what will he have to sacrifice for two.. or three? With the economic climate and the vast amount of cuts to benefits. How can you expect a man to provide for both wives (+children).
Adibah Jodi, a representative of Sisters in Islam, a Malaysian women’s advocacy group, “We do not oppose polygamy, but we believe that monogamy is preferable, because the men seem too stretched to devote enough time and money to them.”
Another problem is that Men may not ask for permission from the first wife, or abuse the opportunity. We’ve seen men walking out of the lives of their pregnant wives/girlfriends, if that’s common then what makes you think he won’t want a 2nd wife. This could break down families and lead to divorce, with 47% of marriages leading to divorce already, the addition isn’t what the government needs. Throughout the Middle East where polygamy is legal, there have been developments to ensure the wife is not wronged for e.g. In Egypt, the husband will need written permission from the wife to grant him permission to marry again.
And finally moving on to Feminists, always a problem, dare I say! The essence of the feminist movement is to remove barriers placed by society (or men) that disallow women to behave freely especially when it comes to progressing and becoming independent women. If polygamy leaves a woman oppressed, feminists wont be too happy however if a wife will-fully accepts a second wife, then it is something they will endorse. However as it will be allowing a man to marry more than one woman, they will jump the hoard & also want a woman to be able to marry more than one man.
Islam and Polygamy
Traditionally Muslims have practiced polygamy, as did the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). The act has been permitted in the Qu’ran; Islam allows a man to marry up to four times but on the condition that all are treated equally, if this can not happen then it is mandatory to marry only one. But as we see around the Muslim world, polygamy is not so widespread; with the nature of a woman’s need to yap on and buy lavish clothing regularly, men have resorted to one wife only.
Dr. Mercier says: “Woman is by nature monogamist; man has in him the element of polygamist.” (Conduct and its Disorders Biologically Considered, pp.292-293)
After Nazi Germany, there were six million women who could not find a husband, this was always common when going to war was mandatory for men. Muslims were encouraged to take up widows and single women, this wasn’t anything sexual but a means to provide for them, to keep them secure. Islam does not encourage the individual to marry more than once but does keep the option open. Maybe we should allow this practice in the UK too?
Finally on a personal note, I know various women who are happy to be a second wife, they have their reasons but its worth opening up to this ‘breed’ of society.
External Links:
✽ Polygamy is equality
✽ Polygamy 911 – Great blogger of real Polygamist with experiences & tips
✽ One bride for 5 brothers
✽ 18 Tips for the Polygamous husband
Other Posts
*Palmistry is ever so popular, have you had your palm checked recently. Do you think there’s any truth to it? Find out here: Palmistry – Truth or False
*Animals have had rights from day one in Islam, check out this post on what these right exactly were: Animal Rights in Islam
*Ever wanted to buy your husband? Check out this post to find out more: Husbands for sale
BEFORE YOU GO: Please check out some of my other posts.I have some intriguing topics that i’d like to discuss, if you would like to be notified just pop your email in to the form on the right hand column.
You place your view on some assumptions which are not correct. The statement you use: Dr. Mercier says: “Woman is by nature monogamist; man has in him the element of polygamist.” (Conduct and its Disorders Biologically Considered, pp.292-293) is from 1911 hardly up to date sience… There’s no scientific evidence that women are more monogamous then men. This is just wishful thinking from your side. If this would be the case why the need to place so many restrictions on women in religion or certain societies? If you look at the statistics that show how many men and women cheat on their partner then it’s the same…
The other point you miss is what about problems of polygamy to the whole socienty and aspecially for the man? Every man seems to imagine himself with lots of women but if polygamy would be widely practised chances would be much bigger to end up with no wif at all.
You state that after the war in Germany there where more women around. Yes but that was after a very big war. Normally ratio men female is about 1:1 so what happends then? The old and rich snatch all the women the young and poor men will be left out without any chance for marriage. This creates a large group of frustrated young men hardly a profit for a stable socienty.
So in the end polygamy only benefits some lucky man which are able to get more then one wife. But for everyone else Women, children, men and socienty there’s hardly anything positive in it.
The book I was referring to gets updates yearly and a very common text at universities. Search Amazon. Cheating is different, its immoral. When the author says this, he means women don’t really require more than one man. She may cheat but doesn’t mean she wants him as a husband, one guy is enough for most women.
Maybe but you can also argue the opposite, Society is also drifting and changing. Ive reason to believe society will start accepting paedophillia. Already there are cases made. Its a disgusting act that harms children and society at large, but society isnt fixed to one ideal.
No one is saying this should be the case, but why so much on a restriction?
Just because that book got a new preface doesn’t make the studies it’s based on more actual…
There were several new studies done on this topic and also lots of new books written for example:
http://www.amazon.de/What-Do-Women-Want-Adventures/dp/0061906093
“female anatomy in fact might be specifically adapted to sex with multiple partners — not just over a lifetime, but in the course of a single sexual episode. The different pace at which men and women build to climax might have the purpose of facilitating sex with multiple men in short succession, which would increase the odds of getting pregnant. ”
I don’t really understand your argument on cheating when you cheat on your partner this clearly prooves that your partner is not enough and that you require more. If it’s immoral or not is not the question. Polygamy is not allowed for women so they don’t have this “moral” option. “She may cheat but doesn’t mean she wants him as a husband”. What do you mean with that? Do you mean that for men polygamy is not about sex? Do you really mean they would want to marry if they had the option to have sex without marriage? As you yourself stated cheating is immoral so if a man want’s sex from different woman he only has one “legal” option to do it – marriage. But that doesn’t mean he really wants it… Women don’t have this option but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t do it if it would be allowed.
I also don’t understand your agument here: “A quick look at demographics for marriage. There are 20,193,876m Males and 26,736,516m females between the ages 16 – 65. If every man was to marry, there would still be a remainder of 7m women approx.”
That’s because women tend to live longer but you can hardly ask a 20 year old male to marry a 60 year old woman! If you look at the statistics for women in their fertile age only you still have relation 1:1
Yes socienty is drifting and changing but where do you get this idea with paedophillia? I can’t think of any country where opinions on this topic are changing on the contrary… In my opinion everything which is harmful for society should be banned.
What I also don’t understand is why polygamy is always defended because it’s in the Qur’an and so it must be good somehow. I mean the same is true for a couple of other things like slavery but I don’t see anyone defending this practice with such a vehemence 😉
You can also check on this: http://huntergatherer.com/good-reasons-why-polygamy-is-a-bad-idea/
The full text is here including studies is here: http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/SC/11/15/2011BCSC1588.htm#SCJTITLE
Polygyny would result in increased crime and antisocial behaviour by the pool of unmarried males it would create.
Greater degrees of polygyny drive down the age of first marriage for (all) females on average, and increase the age gap between husbands and wives. This generally leads to females marrying before age 18, or being “promised” in marriage prior to age 18.
Greater degrees of polygyny are associated with increased inequality between the sexes, and the relationship may be causal as men seek more control over women when women become scarce.
Polygynous men invest less in their offspring both because they have more offspring and because they continue to invest in seeking additional wives. This implies that, on average, children in a more polygynous society will receive less parental investment.
Greater degrees of polygynous marriage may reduce national wealth (GDP) per capita both because of the manner in which male efforts are shifted to obtaining more wives and because of the increase in female fertility.
Astrology is the oldest science, dating back thousands of years to when primitive people noticed objects in the sky overhead and watched the way object moved. Astroloagy has a long traditional of practice results, such as are current understanding of the stars, day & nights, the sessions and the phases of the moon.