Polygamy is definitely to women’s advantage. Since there’s no real limit to the number of children a man can father, women can agree to share the very best male genetic material amongst each other and leave all the other men out in the cold. Think of the private harems that any number of rulers have maintained. In a monogamous culture, any given sub-excellent male has a much better chance of mating.
Polygyny (not necessarily generic polygamy) is to women’s genetic advantage insofar as the selection of husbands depends on things that correlate with valuable genes. It is not necessarily to our advantage in other ways or under other circumstances.
No, there’s an even better system that women could adopt. They could just adopt one low-fitness male each as a husband and financial provider, and then continue to have sex with ultra-high fitness males, where fitness is determined by a screening process that women put potential suitors through. In this hypothetical scenario, some men might even form an underground community of rationalists and try to reverse engineer and crack the female screening system, and get the last laugh in the end.
They could just adopt one low-fitness male each as a husband and financial provider
And relentlessly hen-peck him, deny him sex apart from once a month and then divorce him and take him to the cleaners in the female-friendly divorce courts.
Not that this behavior would necessarily be common, but worth keeping in one’s mind as what would be possible in this hypothetical.
There is an element of truth behind what you say, but ask yourself what your desired response was to this comment and whether it is the optimal way of eliciting that response.
Far more care is required when presenting facts that could support positions that are not politically correct. Without such care such claims can actually immunize against future acceptance of the information.
There will be no acceptance, this is a political correctness of awesome power. The choice for each individual in such a scenario is to either deal with the situation well or poorly.
I think that this is a great example of the concept of Beyond the reach of god (though a relatively mild one compared to all sorts of other evils in the world): life is not fair, and there may be cases where there is a systematic and amoral force pushing it away from fairness. In such cases, you better have a plan to deal with the problem, and if you don’t, you’ll just suffer the consequences. The world (including other humans) will not help you or shift their position when you point out that it’s unfair.
The author is from a fringe Mormon sect which pushes families to be one man, seven wives, and as many children as possible.Going on welfare isn’t feasible because of fears that the illegal arrangement might be discovered. The result is not only a serious level of poverty, but an emotional mess because of jealousy among the women. They each wanted more time and attention from their husband than he had available.
I feel like I should point out that the official Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has officially repudiated polygamy (except insofar as men can be “sealed” to several wives if it happens that each dies before he marries the next). I’ve lived in Utah and this repudiation is carried out in everyday social stigma; it’s not just on paper. Since “Mormon” is recognized as a nickname for that religion more readily than its spinoffs, calling polygamist sects “Mormon” instead of the distinct “Mormon fundamentalism” is misleading and perpetuates stereotypes. “Fringe” is a nod to this, but it doesn’t specify what it’s on the fringe of (even standard-issue Mormonism could be considered on the fringe of, say, generic Christianity).
Polygamy is definitely to women’s advantage. Since there’s no real limit to the number of children a man can father, women can agree to share the very best male genetic material amongst each other and leave all the other men out in the cold. Think of the private harems that any number of rulers have maintained. In a monogamous culture, any given sub-excellent male has a much better chance of mating.
Polygyny (not necessarily generic polygamy) is to women’s genetic advantage insofar as the selection of husbands depends on things that correlate with valuable genes. It is not necessarily to our advantage in other ways or under other circumstances.
Women weren’t the ones who set up those harems.
Evolutionary fitness is not morality. It doesn’t have a thing to do with our preferences. We are adaptation-executers, not fitness-maximizers.
No, there’s an even better system that women could adopt. They could just adopt one low-fitness male each as a husband and financial provider, and then continue to have sex with ultra-high fitness males, where fitness is determined by a screening process that women put potential suitors through. In this hypothetical scenario, some men might even form an underground community of rationalists and try to reverse engineer and crack the female screening system, and get the last laugh in the end.
Consider the stereotype: Beautiful young woman marries rich older man, cheats on him with the handsome young pool boy.
Forgot to mention:
And relentlessly hen-peck him, deny him sex apart from once a month and then divorce him and take him to the cleaners in the female-friendly divorce courts.
Not that this behavior would necessarily be common, but worth keeping in one’s mind as what would be possible in this hypothetical.
There is an element of truth behind what you say, but ask yourself what your desired response was to this comment and whether it is the optimal way of eliciting that response.
Far more care is required when presenting facts that could support positions that are not politically correct. Without such care such claims can actually immunize against future acceptance of the information.
;)
There will be no acceptance, this is a political correctness of awesome power. The choice for each individual in such a scenario is to either deal with the situation well or poorly.
I think that this is a great example of the concept of Beyond the reach of god (though a relatively mild one compared to all sorts of other evils in the world): life is not fair, and there may be cases where there is a systematic and amoral force pushing it away from fairness. In such cases, you better have a plan to deal with the problem, and if you don’t, you’ll just suffer the consequences. The world (including other humans) will not help you or shift their position when you point out that it’s unfair.
See Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist’s Wife for an extended example for why there’s more to life than reproductive fitness.
The author is from a fringe Mormon sect which pushes families to be one man, seven wives, and as many children as possible.Going on welfare isn’t feasible because of fears that the illegal arrangement might be discovered. The result is not only a serious level of poverty, but an emotional mess because of jealousy among the women. They each wanted more time and attention from their husband than he had available.
I feel like I should point out that the official Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has officially repudiated polygamy (except insofar as men can be “sealed” to several wives if it happens that each dies before he marries the next). I’ve lived in Utah and this repudiation is carried out in everyday social stigma; it’s not just on paper. Since “Mormon” is recognized as a nickname for that religion more readily than its spinoffs, calling polygamist sects “Mormon” instead of the distinct “Mormon fundamentalism” is misleading and perpetuates stereotypes. “Fringe” is a nod to this, but it doesn’t specify what it’s on the fringe of (even standard-issue Mormonism could be considered on the fringe of, say, generic Christianity).
How would you recommend that I describe such groups? Always mention that what they’re doing is repudiated by the vast majority of Mormons?
You call them “fundamentalist Mormons”, or name the specific sect.
I think that naming the specific sect is a lot more likely to miscommunicate than “fringe.”
I agree on that.