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From: vis@mit-trillian.MIT.EDU (Tom Courtney)
Newsgroups: net.legal,net.singles,net.social,net.women
Subject: Re: Supreme Court Ruling on Sodomy (really bigamy)
Message-ID: <930@mit-trillian.MIT.EDU>
Date: Fri, 25-Jul-86 16:31:19 EDT
Article-I.D.: mit-tril.930
Posted: Fri Jul 25 16:31:19 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 25-Jul-86 23:40:39 EDT
References: <3098@jhunix.UUCP> <14682@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: vis@trillian.UUCP (Tom Courtney)
Organization: MIT Project Athena
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Xref: mnetor net.legal:2760 net.singles:8571 net.social:734 net.women:4851

In article <1561@ihlpa.UUCP> strickln@ihlpa.UUCP (Stephen D. Stricklen) writes:
>> On a slightly different but similar topic,  what about the laws agains
>> polygamy?  In what way does polygamy threaten our society that it is 
>> dangerous enough to be outlawed?
>> 
>> - E. Eades
>
>An interesting point, and I thought about this for a while.  My guess is the
>laws were set down to protect women in a time when it was easier for men to
>take advantage of them.  

I find it interesting that most people mean "multiple wives" by polygamy, and
that the notion of "multiple husbands" is much rarer. I wonder what causes
this?

I'm not sure polygamy laws particularly protect women. Consider a culture that
uses automobiles. Who benefits by having every family own two? The seller does.
Increased demand means you can get a higher price. Now consider a culture where
multiple wives are the norm. Women who are interested in getting married can
shop around for a better grade of husband, get better terms on the marraige
compact, etc.