Monogamy reduces major social problems of polygamist cultures. Summary: In cultures that permit men to take multiple wives, the intra-sexual competition that occurs causes greater levels of crime, violence, poverty and gender inequality than in societies that institutionalize and practice monogamous marriage.
A litany of studies have shown that people believe monogamous relationships are inherently more trusting, committed, passionate and sexually satisfying and less likely to involve jealousy than other types of relationships. Some people even went so far as to say that monogamy cures jealousy.
Preferring Monogamy
The Huffington Post champions monogamous relationships as the pinnacle of values like honor, respect, fidelity, loyalty, and trust. However, many polygamous individuals would make the case that the values above might still exist within non-monogamous relationships.
Are poly relationships healthy? Polyamorous relationships can be happy, healthy relationships, just like any other monogamous or non-monogamous relationship. However, because polyamorous relationships involve multiple people, they can sometimes require more honesty, communication, and care.
Two people in a marriage who are totally committed to each other will nourish and grow closer each and every day they are married. Having this commitment brings the husband and wife together as one. Monogamy fulfills a relationship with love and honesty.
The benefits of monogamy include increased certainty of paternity and access to the entire reproductive potential of at least one female (Schuiling, 2003) , reduction in infanticide (Opie et al., 2013) and greater survival of offspring due to higher parental investment (Geary, 2000).
More recent field research on a large Canadian sample also found that those in open or polyamorous relationships were just as happy as those in monogamous relationships. The Rubel and Bogaert review reports that most non-monogamous people are just as or more sexually satisfied than monogamists.
As with monogamous relationships, polyamorous relationships can be healthy or unhealthy — happy or unhappy — depending on the behaviors and actions of the people who engage in them. Many people in polyamorous relationships are satisfied and happy.
For humans, monogamy is not biologically ordained. According to evolutionary psychologist David M. Buss of the University of Texas at Austin, humans are in general innately inclined toward nonmonogamy.
No, it is an alternate way of life. Polyamory is neither a mental illness nor a personality disorder. A study was conducted with around 1093 polyamorous individuals measuring the various criteria like need fulfillment, relationship satisfaction, and commitment for two ongoing romantic relationships.
Unhappiness, loneliness, sense of competition and jealousy, and lack of intimacy with the spouse were identified as disadvantages of polygyny.
It enhances security among the family members. It enhances commitment/undivided love. It upholds the dignity/ honour /confidence/trust among the family members. It reduces the risk of contracting infections/sexually transmitted diseases.
Monogamy is meaningful.
"Loyalty." "Trust." "Fidelity." "Honor." "Respect." These are all just words, until your actions either give them power and importance or deflate them.
Summary: In cultures that permit men to take multiple wives, the intra-sexual competition that occurs causes greater levels of crime, violence, poverty and gender inequality than in societies that institutionalize and practice monogamous marriage.
In essence, men are only socially monogamous rather than genetically monogamous.
Monogamy, after all, does not come naturally; it is not the norm unless a society enforces it as such. There are immense benefits to doing so. But it is unclear how well we humans can achieve this aim in the present environment.
If we mean realistic for the species of humans, then the answer clearly is yes. In various cultures around the world people are able to engage in lifelong monogamous relationships.
Instead, biological indicators suggest a mating system where both sexes form a long-term pairbond with a single partner (Møller, 2003). And while polygyny was likely present in the human past, as it is across contemporary human societies, the weight of evidence seems to support social monogamy.
“The human mating system is extremely flexible,” Bernard Chapais of the University of Montreal wrote in a recent review in Evolutionary Anthropology. Only 17 percent of human cultures are strictly monogamous.
They found that polyamory was perceived most positively of the three consensually non-monogamous relationships, followed by open relationships, with swinging perceived most negatively.
Research, however, finds that people in polyamorous relationships are in fact, often quite happy with their arrangements: They report the same levels of relationship satisfaction as married partners, as well as high sexual satisfaction.
The biggest difference between polyamory and polygamy is the gender of the partners. In polyamory, anyone of any gender can have multiple partners—the gender of the person or their partner does not matter. Polygamy is almost universally heterosexual, and only one person has multiple spouses of a different gender.
One of the common arguments against polyamory is that it is immoral. While polyamory does not fit conventional morality any better than other forms of consensual non-monogamy, it does provide adults and children with clear ethical guidelines. Morality identifies a sharp divide between two polar opposites.
For one, bisexual and pansexual participants were much more likely to report being in polyamorous relationships, whereas straight participants were more likely to report being in monogamous ones. Half of bi/pan people reported being polyamorous compared to only 36 percent of heterosexual individuals.
A survey of 340 polyamorous adults shows their polyam relationships lasting an average of eight years. The most typical polyam relationship involves a primary committed couple, with each member free to explore other relationships.