"Friends of mine in Siberia told me that their friends were lobbying parliament to legalise polygamy," she says. "I always knew that there were men who like the idea of polygamy, but what I found fascinating was that women were also in support."As a libertarian Christian this is one of those tough issues for me. I want to give people the freedom to chose their best life, but I wonder if they know what their best life is.
So is the recession going to turn the good burghers of Tunbridge Wells into polygamists? It's unlikely. But it remains the case that the reasons why men – and, even more interestingly, women – are advocating polygamy in Russia and Mongolia are as much about economics as they are about sex. The critical issue is demography. The Russian population is falling by 3% a year – and there are 9 million fewer men than women. Nationalists, such as the eccentric leader of the Liberal Democratic party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, claim that introducing polygamy will provide husbands for "10 million lonely women" and fill Mother Russia's cradles.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Supply and Demand for Husbands
Surprisingly, some women in Russia are lobbying their government to legalize polygamy because "half a good man is better than none at all":
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One thing I have been wondering about is whether there will be reverse polygamy in China. That is, whether women will marry multiple men because women are in short supply. I doubt it because general evolutionary theory holds that females prefer one mate, at least more so than males.
ReplyDeleteOn the policy side, I am perfectly fine with allowing polygamy so long as all parties are consenting. I do not think allowing polygamy would mean a bunch of unsuspecting women would get swindled into unhappy marriages. Allowing polygamy could mean lots of mail order brides entering polygamous marriages, but as long as they are free to divorce I do not see a problem.
I agree that women with multiple purposes doesn't really work out. But I'm hoping the short supply of women will give them leverage to gain more individual rights.
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