MOTION #79: THIS HOUSE WOULD LEGALIZE POLYGAMY
Polygamy is the
practice of having two or more spouses at the same time; this includes both
polygyny (the union of one man with more than one woman) and polyandry (the
union of one women with more than one man).
Polygamy is condoned
in the original texts of many faiths; in the Bible, there is Lamech’s marriage
to Adah and Zillah in Genesis (4:23), and Joseph’s four wives (Gen 29-30),
amongst others. In Judaism, most of the prophets are polygamous and Solomon is said
to have had 700 wives. In Islam, the Koran tells us that after the battle of
Uhud many widows were left, who were married to already married men (4:3).
However, most religions now ban the practice and it is rare in Islam. In most
countries, including all western ones and some Islamic ones, polygamy is
illegal, although some Muslim states (such as Saudi Arabia) do allow it. Apart
from these Islamic examples, polygamy does continue in some African societies
but is more generally – although incorrectly – seen as a practice of Mormons.In
the 1840s, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of the
Latter Day Saints (the proper name for the Mormon church), approved the
practice of polygamy. However, statehood for Utah only came in 1896 when its leaders
finally agreed to abolish polygamy in return for it and for more than a century
the Mormon church has expelled those practising polygamy. It is undoubtedly
true that a blind-eye policy is practiced in some remote places, but the
widespread idea that polygamy is legal in Utah is entirely wrong. Whilst
examples are certainly relevant, this debate should revolve around the
principles concerned: it should not be a debate solely about Mormons.
It should be noted that many of the organisations in favour of polygyny –
particularly, faith-based groups – are explicitly against polyandry. This topic
will present the merits of both, but will consider the roots of that division.
Pros
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Cons
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Marrying the right person. The ability to marry people who are already married presents us with the
chance to take partners that have already proven themselves in society as
responsible parents and providers - that is, to reduce the risk in marriage.
It also means that one doesn't have to settle for those "left
over"; you can marry the person you want, not just the person that's
left. Very few countries have exactly the same number of males and females;
in the UAE, there are 2.2 males per female, but in Estonia, there are only
0.84 males per female. This means that monogamy restricts options
significantly.
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The idea of taking an ‘established’ partner simply
because of their status is anathema in the modern age – it implies that
income determines suitability as partner, and suggests that the partner
concerned will forever be dominant in the relationship. That logic would see
CEOs with 10 wives and unemployed people with none - hardly supportive of the
‘everyone should be able to marry’ model this proposition argument supports.
Furthermore, it is difficult to decipher statistics like these. Many people
don’t want to marry. Certainly, not everyone wants to marry at once, which
would be needed for statistics on total population to be of any use.
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Polygamy makes having a family easier. More providers can make great contributions to the
home. It makes the family unit more efficient, as more people can pursue
careers and bring in money, but due to economies of scale, less additional
money will be needed for each additional partner. For example, it is cheaper
to cook in large quantities than if each person were cooking individually.
Similarly, additional people in the house won’t need another kitchen or
necessarily another bathroom, so therefore it’s cheaper to live in groups –
particularly groups with multiple incomes. In addition, there is more likely
to be a person staying at home, which saves on childcare. While it will not
always be the case there are many ways in which living in groups can be more
economical.
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Just because something is economically efficient, it
isn't necessarily better. The idea that one of the best reasons for marrying
an additional person is because it will cost less in the long run completely
undermines the ideals of love that marriages are based on. Furthermore, in many
societies where men can have multiple wives, it is actually expensive, as the
man is expected to provide for everybody as well as pay dowries, so it is
economically unsound. If there are extra adult incomes, they must be shared
amongst the extra adults, and often get soaked up in the high number of
children polygamous relationships tend to produce.
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Creating stable, long-lasting relationships. Polygamy reduces the strains on family life and
minimises the likelihood of breakdown and divorce. Polygamy reduces the
desire for adultery by providing alternatives for sexual exploration within
the family unit. Sibel Üresin suggests that people look for a lot of
qualities in a spouse, and that it is unlikely that any one person can
possess them all, which is why there is so much adultery in monogamous
relationships.
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Even if the marriages last longer this is likely to be
based upon feeling subservient to their spouse (nearly always husband) and so
feeling powerless and unable to get a divorce. Adultery is based on a desire
for the 'other', for something outside the known, outside the home. Polygamy
does nothing to combat this; adultery still occurs in polygamous societies.
Indeed, polygamy encourages adultery as it dilutes the idea of fidelity from
being loyalty to one person, substituting the legitimacy of intercourse with
many. In a study in Nigeria it was found that men with three or more wives
were more likely to engage in extramarital sex.
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People can love more than one other person. The idea
that the individual can only truly love one person is artificial and false, a
product of a particular time, place and culture. In fact, in a study on human
societies worldwide, of 1231 societies noted, only 186 were entirely
monogamous. Polygamy is not about freedom to fornicate with anyone; it's
about cementing relationships with individuals one wants to spend the rest of
one's life with, just as in monogamous marriages.
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Marriage is about devotion to another, the giving of
oneself wholly to that person, granting love to them to the exclusion of all
others. How could one have such a relationship with more than one person?
It's not possible to devote yourself entirely to more than one person.
Polygamy therefore necessarily involves the exploitation of at least one
party - and the denigration of the relationship that exists between the
others.
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People should have freedom of choice. The law should recognise freedom of choice. If
somebody wants to marry more than one person, and all parties involved agree,
then the state should not get involved. We have a right to privacy, and a
right to non-interference in our family life. These are not absolute rights,
but they are important: breach of them needs to be contemplated with extreme
care and is not merited here. This is particularly important because some
religious sects promote polygamy, so banning it also impinges on freedom of
religion.
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In most cases, some of the partners involved in
polygamy will not have true freedom of choice. Presumably, one of the
partners will be proposing the addition of another person to the marriage;
the first partner may well not truly desire this, but feel unable to refuse.
This could particularly be a problem in religious groups that are happy for
men to marry many women, but deny women the same freedom. Daphne Bramham
studied a polygamous community in Canada and concluded: "Within that
particular group, those women have absolutely no choice. They are separated
from the mainstream community." Whilst a law that allowed polygamy might
give a handful of people more freedom, it would actually deny it to many
others.
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The whole point of this debate is that marriage does
not have to just be between two individuals. This simply redefines marriage
rather than trivialising it. There is not currently competition to have most
children so why should there be competition to have most wives? Furthermore,
this opposition point comes from a very limited perspective; if polygamy is
seen as acceptable, there is no reason why children should be confused, and
they may well have a better family life as it is more likely that there will
be a parent around for them.
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Monogamy preserves
the meaning of marriage. Polygamy undermines
the institution of marriage, trivialising the union of two people: imagine
the competition to be married to the most partners, or to live in the largest
family. This sends all the wrong messages to society as we attempt
reinstitute the stable family as the ideal place to live and bring up our
young. It inflicts harm to children, who - even if they know their parentage
- are presented with confusing signals about role models and family life.
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Hierarchies also exist in monogamous families - between
husband and wife, between siblings. That they similarly have the capacity to
exist in polygamous marriages isn't a true argument against such unions,
capable as they are of producing stable homes, just as monogamous marriages
do. Some marriages are good, some bad - that's true of both monogamy and
polygamy. For those involved, a good polygamous marriage is better than a bad
monogamous one.
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Polygamy creates
hierarchy. Hierarchy within a family
structure will emerge, with a 'head wife' dominating over her rivals: this is
at the root of religious polygamy, being seen in Sarah's domination over
Abraham's other wives in the Bible. The attempts by the man in polygamous
marriages to dominate and control the wives encourages and institutionalises
the very thing that leads to the break-up of the majority of family units -
namely, jealousy, violence and sexual encounters with others. For example in
Uganda a dispute between wives over fetching water lead to one woman stabbing
and killing her fellow wife.
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This is a cheap slur. Polygamy doesn't necessarily
create other offences, and once legalised those other offences, if they
occurred, would simply be prosecuted as the law demands. You can't say
something should be illegal because there's a theoretical link to other
illegal things. Forced marriage is an issue as much in other communities,
such as for those of Indian origin practising monogamous marriages, as it is
for those that wish to practise polygamy. We agree that society needs to
decide how it wants to deal with that offence with regard to its minorities:
such a dilemma is entirely separate from allowing polygamy or not, in which
forced marriage remains wrong.
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Other terrible
practices accompany polygamy. Where
polygamy is found, a wealth of other offences follows. Forced marriage, child
abuse, rape, welfare fraud, incest - all staples of the polygamous
communities in the USA, along with the broader exploitation of women.
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Why impose numerical restrictions at all? It is
obviously easy to poke fun at the lives of others who choose to live in this
way. But once we agree that it is acceptable, it is difficult to logically
impose restrictions that would be, by necessity, arbitrary. More sensible
might be a transfer of the idea held by the Muslim faith - that partners are
able to provide for one another adequately. It is true that this practical
point is difficult for the proposition to answer, but the opposition also has
practical stumbling blocks. How exactly should we police polygamy? Should
polygamists be imprisoned? This is difficult, especially when children are
involved. This is a debate about principles - throwing up absurd
practicalities cuts both ways.
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Polygamy is
logistically complicated. There are many
questions as to what legal polygamy would look like. How many extra partners
can one have? Are line marriages legal? Will one village be able to marry
another village? Without restrictions, that sort of thing will happen
sometimes. Either way, the proposition loses: if restrictions are imposed -
say, only one extra partner - then why that number only? If not, then imagine
the consequences of a contested estate or bitter divorce.
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Incest is a possibility in any society, particularly
one in which families frequently break up. In fact, compared to modern
society it's arguably less likely amongst polygamous families, which tend by
virtue of their adherence to religious requirements to keep strict records of
lineage - unlike most in modern life.
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Polygamy has
numerous harmful social effects. Women in Polygamous marriages are more likely to suffer from low
self-esteem and depression and unsurprisingly have lower marital satisfaction
as a result of not being the centre of affections of their spouse. There are
also higher risks of being infected by sexually transmitted diseases. A study
in Nigeria found that men with 3 or more wives had twice the risk of
extramarital sex compared to monogamous men "indicate a link between
high-risk sex, number of wives, and risk of HIV/AIDS." Among these other
problems increasing the number of marriage mixes greatly enhances the chances
of inadvertent incest, especially in relatively remote, inward-looking
villages and small towns where generations of people live in the same area
and are unlikely to move - exactly the kind of places most likely to take up
polygamy if allowed to.
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