As husbands, half of men are worthless. Since is better to share a good man than to have all of a worthless man, should we bring back polygamy?

[Adaeva]

France appears to boast the highest fertility rate in all of Europe, but upon further investigation, the native French population only has a fertility rate around 1.2–1.3 children per couple, while the Arab and African Muslim population of France (despite only being between 7–18% of the population) has a fertility rate between 6–8.1 children per couple.

In plain terms, unless the native French people start having way more children and somehow separate themselves from the growing Muslim population, they will be demographically replaced and extinguished as a people in their own country. France will be a majority-Muslim nation as soon as 2050.

Islam, which broadly accepts polygamy up to 4 wives based on the Qur’anic text, is the fastest growing religion in the world, and will be the largest major religion in the world by 2060, based on nothing more than current demographic fertility trends.

[DextroShade]

And what about the other 3 dudes who don't get wives because Chad has 4, what do you expect them to do? They aren't going to quietly work their whole lives and die as virgins, so there will constant, massive civil unrest. Civilization was built on monogamy, even in Islam a man had to have the resources to provide each wife a house so polygamy was limited to the top 1%. If the beta males, who are the vast majority of men, don't have access to sex and the ability to start families society crumbles.

[abc3643]

No good would come from that, LOL...
Any adult man who has been married understands that, all too often, one wife is one too many.
But, more so, women can get vicious with each other - more than men do. Incompatible sister-wives = oceans of drama and headaches for the husband.

[abc3643]

Besides that, the very legal foundations of American society would have to change completely. It would take decades to update all laws and, in the meantime, the judicial system would be overwhelmed with countless novel divorce/custody cases.

No. Just no.

[Adaeva]

All it takes is a Supreme Court ruling. Row vs. Wade didn't long; let alone decades.

[abc3643]

NOooooo... LOL... Entire INDUSTRIES are based on the assumption that a marriage involves just two people.

I wish I could explain this better, but it's sort of like molecules in chemistry...
When you have a two-atom molecule, like O2 or N2, there is only that one bond between the atoms and there is only one "degree of freedom" of how the two atoms within the molecule can move (along that degree of freedom). But, the more atoms you have in a molecule, the more bonds you can have... MANY more bonds. (This is mathematically related to graph theory.)

Let me explain...
Take a piece of paper and draw two circles.
Then draw a straight line between centers of these two circles.
How many lines can you draw?
Only one.

Now, draw 3 circles and draw straight lines between the centers of the circles.
How many lines can you draw?
3

Now, draw 4 circles and draw straight lines between the centers of the circles.
How many lines can you draw?
6

Generally, if you have N circles, then you can draw a total of N*(N-1)/2.

If you imagine each of these circles as a person in a polygamous marriage, each line represents a bond or emotional connection between every person and every other person in the marriage.

OK, now, let's imagine those lines are either red or green. Green means the relationship between those two people are good; Red means bad.

(more)

[abc3643]

In a 2-person marriage, there's only one line that's either green or red. If green, they remain married; if red, they get divorced.

But what about a 4-person marriage?
Let's say we have Bob, Carol, Ted, and Alice as a quad-marriage.
Carol and Alice get into a squabble and now hate each other. However, Carol and Alice are both happy with Bob and Ted. So, how do Carol and Alice divorce each other yet still remain married to Bob and Ted? And what if Bob and Ted have a falling out too? What about their kids? What happens to them and what is the emotional impact of all this dysfunction on them?

This situation is a legal trainwreck. It's as bad as a surgeon trying to separate conjoined twins. It's all fucked up. And with no significant psychological research on any of this, this becomes problematic for the court system to make the "right decision" to fix whatever is going on and do what's best for the kids.

==========
Complexities like this are something that kids like you don't think of but that a good number of functional mature adults do - especially lawyers and safety / reliability engineers. Answers to life's questions are not trite like "All is takes is a Supreme Court ruling." (For one thing, you need to understand the judicial system and how it works. It's not that simple.)

[DWornock]

For most of human history polygamy has been the norm. 8,000 Years Ago, 17 Women Reproduced for Every One Man. For all of human history only 40% of men but 80% of women reproduced. If you believe the Bible Solomon had a 1,000 wives and concubines. In historical Korean dramas all the women in the palace were the King's women, and if they had sex they were elevated to a special lady and a few became concubines. Sultans had harems.

[abc3643]

@DWornock no it hasn't because for most of human history, marriage didn't exist.

[abc3643]

Furthermore in those other polygamous relationships, women had no rights. That's not like it is in Western culture in which women do have rights.

[DWornock]

Look at the native tribes in American and Africa from 200 years ago. Most women had mates and that is marriage. The primary right is the right to live. If a tribe was attacked by another tribe, the men would fight to protect the women. If the invading tribe was successful, they killed the men and captured the women who were then as simulated into the other tribe.. Unlike the men, they didn't die. Therefore, women had rights but the men did not.

[abc3643]

@DWornock I don't think you are understanding my point in all of this.
This has nothing to do with polygamy - the practice. My issue is with polygamy and the legal complications in the modern Western world. In a legal polygamous marriage, there would be oceans of new complications that could not exist in a legal monogamous marriage.

Try to think that through and see what you come-up with. It's a good thought-experiment.

[MzAsh]

Quality women absolutely do not share.

[DWornock]

That would return marriages to their natural state. Throughout all human history, only forth percent of men reproduced because they couldn't get women. Now, with modern technology allowing even the unfit babies to survive, it is far worse. Eighty percent of men are not fit to marry and few women want them.

Too many women can't husbands because the good men are married. Polygamy would allow most women to marry a good man.

[Billlewis]

I've long held that the familial arrangement known as a harem, has been set up backwards for centuries. To me, the idea of a man having several wives makes no sense, whereas the concept of a woman having multiple husbands makes perfect sense.

[Avicenna]

Polygamy is not the norm, even in Islam.

And what makes you think the „good men“ want to be saddled with a second wife who is from the bottom barrel of women (probably a single mom)?

[DWornock]

Top 5% men take only the best, average men must settle for fat single moms.

[Surely]

Most women probably wouldn’t go for polygamy. But the ones that do. Who says that every woman has to be married to the guy?
No need for changing the laws.
Health insurance and retirement might be a hitch in the giddy up!

[DarkLegacy]

There are far more worthless women, the people that think men are worthless are worthless themselves

[Grond21]

There are too many false assumptions in this question. But the fertility and demographic warnings are very real.

[FunkyMonkee]

Probably because, girls are GONNA cheat, anyway so, what's the point of one man and one woman?

[Kelly6]

i agree for polygamy

[Nifrayu]

I don't have a problem with polygamy.

[Anonymous]

Whatever tickles you pickle hun.

[robocop666]

Polygamy has nothing to do with it