alexmst said:
If a guy can afford two wives, and his culture/religion supports multiple wives, and the women are okay with it, then what is the problem?
I had to copy this from another site...this Polygamy was talk about a few days ago..I'm not posting the link...these are not my words......
Ever seen "Raise the Red Lantern"?
He assumes that polygamy is entered into such that all in the relationship have equal say and status in the relationship. That is divorcing the concept from the reality of execution.
In a society where men of social esteem and wealth and therefore power get the privilege of multiple wives, the women are not seen as partners they are seen as commodities.
As far as it happens in real life, what happens is that inevitably the man ends up have a favorite or favorites, who he treats better than others. And then there is the question of inheritance; how do you split property between multiple sets of children?
The Chinese had this system: First Wife, if she bears a son, is assured of inheritance for her sons, no matter what. She also gets to rule the household affairs and her point of view is what matters.
All other wives are on forbearance based on their sexual attractiveness to the husband and whether or not they have borne sons.
And when you are without a son and without sexual attraction for the man, you are doomed to servitude and disrespect.
And that's if you shut up and take the system. Ugly things happen when women logically begin to jockey for position within the household.
Empress Wu rose to rulership from mere minor concubine level by seducing the Emperor and then began a political campaign where she banished and killed off all of the women ahead of her in rank by poisoning or framing for crimes; the empress, the first two ranking concubines, their children. When the emperor's female relatives began to move against her, she killed off her sister-in-law and the Emperor's mother.
She secured position as empress and then began to guarantee power for herself and her sons by killing off her nephews, the Emperor's male relatives. She continued to kill off any other concubines who gained the interest of the Emperor. She drove the Emperor to nervous breakdown and then he died from the subsequent ill health. When she decided that it would be better for her to rule, she then started killing off sons who got too ambitious.
Polygamy is just a huge recipe for women on woman crime, on top of general neglect and manipulation by the patriarchal heads that espouse polygamy