Can anyone name a single legitimate reason why polygamy is illegal?

Really? Are women in most of the Muslim world (the majority of polygamists in the world) there by choice? I don't care if a person wants to live with a harem, or in a polyamorous relationship, I just don't want our legal system entwined in it.

 

To what?

 

Nope. Just more religious mumbo jumbo screwing with people's lives.

 

Just out of curiosity, who made you the arbiter of what is and is not a legitimate reason?

Maybe the OP should state things more simply: should marriage be done away with altogether? If you end up making the word meaningless, isn't that what you're really doing?

All excellent reasons to tread lightly, yes?

Yet more good reasons.

 

lol................6 wives? That's got to be a special kind of hell.

 

The problem with that argument is that you're assuming that all heterosexual marriages involve fertile people. My wife and I are both on our second marriages. When she and I married, she was infertile. We're certainly not expanding the genepool.

And then there's the question on how it would constrict the genepool. What would the difference be if...let's say a MFF couple. That's one male, two females. What is the difference if such a marriage produced a child from the one father and the two mothers...or say man marries one of the pair and has a child...then divorces and marries the other of the pair and has another child?

It's going to be the same genetic pairings either way. Take it the other way and you have a FMM marriage. If the mother has a child with each of the fathers...there's no difference if she married one, had a kid, and divorced then did the same with the other.

 

This is the kind of thing I was talking about with the infrastructure. Had polygamy never been made illegal, the social security system might have been designed with the concept of multiple spouses in mind. And we could probably adjust it so as to accommodate multiple spouses surviving the one who passed on. But that is something that would have to be addressed prior to changing the law to allow polygamy.

 

I can't really see any real reasons against it. There are some amusing ones like navigator. Plus the thought of extra mothers-in-law. All the gossip. Where to store all the shoes etc etc. But seriously, if that's the way people want to live then who should say no, providing they're all consenting adults? Do we really need a bedroom police to monitor what people do?

 

Back that up. Explain exactly how this narrows or constricts the gene pool. I ask this because I think you may be coming from a flawed premise.

 

Religious reasons are not legitimate because they violate the freedom of religious by seeking to force religious views on others by law

The second reason I gave is not a legitimate reason because it makes sweeping generalizations based on prejudiced views about polygamy, and does not take into account the personally feelings and views of those involved in a marriage.

 

In my younger days I've had 6 (and more) girl friends (concurrently) but marriage is another level altogether. Too much testosterone lends some serious physical and mental abuse to it's owner.

 

Just don't get married...

 

Exactly. The same would be true is someone had an affair that resulted in pregnancy. The only difference being that in a polygamist marriage, the people are all consenting adults and agree to share a spouse.

 

Polygamy is literally multiple spouses by definition. Polygyny is one husband and multiple wives and polyandry is one wife with multiple husbands. Now as far as I am concerned, the only real difference between the words is simply that they can accurately describe a poly group in a single word. Beyond that there is no difference.

 

By this line of reasoning, those wishing to marry their dogs or their tomato plant should be allowed to do so. If you say they shouldn't, you are making a sweeping generalization based on a prejudiced view that does not take into account the personal feelings and views of those who wish to be married to dogs and tomato plants.

 

How so? There is no more competition in our poly unit now than there was when it was just me and my first wife. They might be more variety, as my husband and I do a lot of video game competing.

 

You asked for people to name legitimate reasons for why it's illegal, and then set rules that IN YOUR OPINION make it illegitimate. So basically "Tell me what I want to hear or don't say anything at all".

BTW I'm not religious

 

Well, at least you have a videographer for free. So there's that.

 

You don't base society on polygamy anymore than you base it on monogamy. That is a strawman right there. There is a major difference between basing a sociology polygamy and allowing polygamy in a society.

 

How so? The poly groups that I know of tend to be very faithful to each other. I'm not saying that it's all sunshine and happiness...but then again neither are traditional couples. There's good and bad in either. I've seen many unfaithful individuals in traditionally married couples.

I've heard this one about Same Sex Marriages as well. Funny thing...the day that it was legalized in all 50 states, my marriage totally failed to be destroyed. We just looked at the news, looked at each other and one said "Gee! I guess we'll be getting a wedding invite from [friend] pretty soon." and kept on eating dinner.

It's a myth. If you take two people, have them tested and certified clean and then they marry and remain faithful...they're going to continue to be clean. Take three people, have them tested and certified clean and then they form a poly group and remain faithful...they're going to continue to be clean.
Take four people...etc and so on.

It can and it can't. That's going to depend on the people involved. But if you get a group together that has managed to resolve any feelings of jealousy...then they're going to get along just fine. If they don't...then yes there can and often will be frictions. It's in how these get resolved that determines a successful or an unsuccessful poly grouping.

But in those areas, it's not a breakdown in marriage per se, but a breakdown in values as a whole. I know what you're meaning. You're talking about the men who father children with as many women as they can stick it in and the women who want children but don't want to be tied down by a man.

Yeah...that does cause a lack of stability and that lack is reflected in the children raised in those environments. However...poly groups tend to be more like traditional marriages when it comes to raising children. They give stability. Sure Molly may have multiple mommies and/or daddies...but those people tend to be very parental towards the children reared in the groupings. Even if the child is not theirs biologically, they tend to treat them as if they were their children and give the nurturing and support the children need and crave.

If anything, they're at an advantage because if one parent is occupied, the other one can step in.

And it's not really that much different than a traditional marriage that fell to seed. I was raised by step-father and by my bio-father. Mom and Bio-Dad divorced when I was two. I was raised by both and because both were prominent in my life, they have both earned the title of "Dad".

It's not universal to all Muslim nations, but I do know what you mean. However in those cases, it's less about the marriages and more about the overall poor treatment of the women in those countries. A lot of the countries that you're likely to point out tend to treat the women with little regard beyond "Mother of my sons" and beyond that tend to be less regarded than the family dog.

 

Or spouses

 

Yes

Yes

 

Do dogs or tomato plants have the ability to provide informed consent or sign legally binding contracts?

 

If you bought into the argument for same-sex marriage, then you cannot honestly oppose polygamy.