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> I agree very much that they both take place in highly patriarchal societies. Then why are we arguing? > what your issue is with people choosing monogamy I

> I agree very much that they both take place in highly patriarchal societies. Then why are we arguing? > what your issue is with people choosing monogamy I have no such issue? You are putting words in my mouth. Perhaps this is why we are arguing. All I take issue with is the GP's assertion that polygamy is the cause of the "lost boys" problem. I claim it's not, patriarchy promulgated by high-status males is. Remove polygamy and all you've done is democratize power among males, without addressing the problem of patriarchy. Remove patriarchy and polygamy is no longer problematic. > it's no longer the case that a woman can't support herself adequately. Western society has made strides in that direction, yes. And beside the decrease in social ostracism of single females, it is argued that the rise of feminism has driven the rise in consensual polyamory [1], supporting my above point. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyamory#Philosophical_aspects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyamory#Philosophical_aspect...

Nursie 9y ago
>> Then why are we arguing? I'm not really sure. >> All I take issue with is the GP's assertion that polygamy is the cause of the "lost boys" problem. I claim it's not, patriarchy promulgated by high-status males is. I'd say it's an intermediate cause, or even an immediate cause and the patriarchy is at the root of it in all examples that we have to look at. If, somehow, consensual polygyny became the norm then we could end up with some of the same societal problems re: pools of unmarried/unattached men. >> Remove patriarchy and polygamy is no longer problematic. Well sure, no longer problematic in as much as no longer forcing people to marry others, but it may still cause societal problems. I'm not advocating it be outlawed for those reasons, FYI, just looking at possibilities. I do think it's fairly unlikely that widespread polygamy would happen outside of the patriarchal constraints, and certainly I'm not sure I know of any examples of polygamous societies having existed without such. Polyamory is a different beast entirely of course.

Nursie 9y ago

>> Then why are we arguing? I'm not really sure. >> All I take issue with is the GP's assertion that polygamy is the cause of the "lost boys" problem. I claim it's not, patriarchy promulgated by high-status males is. I'd say it's an intermediate cause, or even an immediate cause and the patriarchy is at the root of it in all examples that we have to look at. If, somehow, consensual polygyny became the norm then we could end up with some of the same societal problems re: pools of unmarried/unattached men. >> Remove patriarchy and polygamy is no longer problematic. Well sure, no longer problematic in as much as no longer forcing people to marry others, but it may still cause societal problems. I'm not advocating it be outlawed for those reasons, FYI, just looking at possibilities. I do think it's fairly unlikely that widespread polygamy would happen outside of the patriarchal constraints, and certainly I'm not sure I know of any examples of polygamous societies having existed without such. Polyamory is a different beast entirely of course.