Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!shelby!portia!Belarius
From: alderson@Belarius (Rich Alderson)
Newsgroups: alt.sex
Subject: Re: Body count. . .
Message-ID: <8350@portia.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 18 Jan 90 01:35:23 GMT
References: <70181@tiger.oxy.edu> <12982@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <18558@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
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Reply-To: alderson@jessica.stanford.edu (Rich Alderson)
Organization: Stanford University Academic Information Resources
Lines: 26
In-reply-to: dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Sam Conway)

In article <18558@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>, dragon@eleazar (Sam Conway) writes:
>I find it very sexist of me but reasonable to say I can see a man haveing
>a harem but not a woman with manny husbands.

So much for the polyandrous Polynesians studied by Malinowski.

Really, you should study more than biology.  If you look into the mores of
polygamous societies, you will find that most (all?) are rather conservative
WRT who gets shtummed when.

For example, a Moslem who makes one of his wives watch him make love to another
is liable (in the legal sense) for a divorce.  Levitical doctrine makes it
clear that (under the old polygynous form of Judaism) each wife gets her own
bedroom, and gets equal shares of affection--BY LAW!

I don't know the exact details of sex in the aforementioned polyandry, but
given the general conservative nature of the Polynesians WRT sex, I would
assume that similar strictures apply.

(And before anyone quotes _Coming of Age in Samoa_, please look at the recent
re-examination of Mead's work which shows that she was led down the coral
garden path.  Don't remember the author, but it was published within the last
two years--look under subjects "Samoa" and "Margaret Mead.")

Rich Alderson
alderson@jessica.stanford.edu