Polygyny
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The term polygyny (neo-Greek: poly+gune Many + Wives) is used in related ways in social anthropology and sociobiology.
In social anthropology polygyny refers to the practice of a man having more than one wife at the same time. This is the most common form of polygamy. Polygynous marriage must be differentiated from polygamy in sexual partners. Monogamy, for example, may occur alongside sexually polygynous relations, such as Concubinage, casual sexual partners, paramours, recognized secondary partners, and a range of other patterns. Marriage itself takes an enormous range of forms cross-culturally. In biology, excluding references to marriage, polygyny would refer to a mating practice in which a male has more than one female sexual partner. (The opposite form—where a female has more than one male sexual partner —is known as polyandry). In eusocial insects polygyny refers to situations where colonies have multiple queens, and polyandry refers to queens that mate with several males. There are extensive cross-cultural research findings on polygyny by social anthropologists and others.
Definitions concerning polygyny as formal or persistent relationship structures, might be taken to refer to a system in which a male has relationships with a relatively defined social group of more than one female, or where the females are predominantly bonded to a single male, or where a combination of these features occurs, as in a harem structure where many women are openly involved.
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[edit] Human polygyny
Polygyny has been practiced in many cultures throughout history. It was accepted in Hebrew society, in classical China, and was accepted in many traditional African and Polynesian cultures. In India, polygyny was practiced from ancient times onward[citation needed]. It was accepted in ancient Greece prior to the Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church, but after the introduction of the Roman Empire and the Roman Catholicism, one wife, but multiple lovers was acceptable. Sub-saharan Africa was never under the influence of Rome, and has had polygamy legalized for the majority of the past two millennia. Messianic Christianity allowed and still allows polygyny in most non-western or non-Catholic controlled countries; it is regulated in the New Testament but not banned.
Polygyny was banned in the United States in 1890 as a result of laws passed concerning Mormon polygyny. It was allowed in the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon -- LDS) church, but was ended in 1890 after government coercion was given that prohibited Utah from becoming a state as long as they allowed Polygyny. It is still actively practiced by a small number of "Fundamentalist Mormons". Members of the LDS church may face excommunication for being polygynous. A sect of Fundamentalist Mormons (FLDS) still allows active polygyny. The LDS church does not sanction or consider the FLDS to be affiliated with them any longer. The political and economic rise of European nations from the sixteenth to the twentieth century there was a decline in polygyny as Catholicism gained influence.
[edit] The economy of polygyny
In some societies only the well-to-do among men could afford to have more than one wife, particularly if each wife required maintenance of a separate household. Current traditional form of Islam permits as many as four wives, but this depends on economic circumstance. Fewer than four are more usual. Though the Qur'an itself does have a restriction on the number of wives which is four, the Prophet Muhammad was allowed more than four wives at the same time, the majority of these marriages being to widows of fallen comrades or as a means to form a bond with different clans. Even where accepted, polygyny will probably never involve the majority of men and women. Given a typical male to female ratio, imbalance of percentages of married/non-married people in the society is not a unique situation of polygyny: some men and women never obtain mates in monogamous cultures.
The required inheritance of widows requires men in some societies to marry the widow of a deceased brother. This leverite marriage helps provide support for her and increases his number of wives.
[edit] Modern polygamy
Polygamous marriages are not recognized in approximately 20% of modern societies[citation needed]. In Societies where polygynous marriage is banned, polygamous male behavior may be observed in the establishment of mistresses, who are openly or secretly supported.
In some cases the male may have a second (or more) family with non-legally recognized wife, supporting her and his children. In some situations the wife not only is aware of the husband's mistress, but also has helped him select one that is "suitable" to his station. The estate of "mistress" or "concubine" does not rank as highly as "wife". In some societies, a mistress or concubine may be placed under the authority of a full wife[citation needed]. A man may have as many full wives as he can support, with concubines assigned to each wife to aid in managing the rather large family.
The practice of Polyamory is a growing trend worldwide, possibly as an alternative to the male having a secret mistress or concubine.[citation needed]
- For more details on this topic, see Polyamory.
[edit] The wives in a polygamous marriage
One modern viewpoint(1) adheres to the notion that polygyny degrades women, treating them as property and slaves. The inferior position that women experienced in polygynous societies is not acceptable by modern Western standards; however, the same could be said about the position of women in generally all traditional societies, polygynous or not.
Historically this has not been an accurate assessment. Polygyny has used in some societies to enhance certain genetic characteristics, and to weed out unhealthy characteristics. Moreover, owing to the propensity of men to serve and die in wars or labour incidents, women, for centuries, were more likely than men to be left unmarried or widowed. Polygyny ensured that such women were cared for and also helped ensure the births of the large numbers of children required for the survival of pre-mechanized, largely-agrarian cultures in which early mortality rates were high.
In historical China, a child was considered to have more than one mother. For example, a child might have up to four mothers, the first wife being the "official mother" (大媽), the others (including the biological mother) being regarded as stepmothers. However, this custom was primarily a result of the concubinage system, where only the first wife was considered the "real" wife, the empress of the household. The concubines usually provided pleasure and servitude only, and their children were not regarded as officially theirs.
[edit] Polygyny in context
[edit] Christianity
Polygyny was practiced by most of the patriarchs in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament including Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and David, and was practiced throughout the time of the New Testament up until the 11th century[citation needed].
[edit] East Asia
Procreation, that is -- having offspring, is a very important value in Chinese societies and families. China has practiced polygyny for thousands of years. Polygyny had been legal and was written in the law as recently as the end of the Qing/Ching dynasty of the imperial China(1911).
Confucianism has stressed the ability of managing ones family of several wives. In the book of Great Learning (Daxue) wrote, "a man can first manage himself, then manage a family (of more than one set of wives & offsprings), then he can manage a small country, and then, he shall be able to unify and manage a nation." (格物、致知、誠意、正心、修身、齊家、治國、平天下 listed the 8 steps of learning and progress of the perfection of management skills from knowledge, oneself, one's family... to managing a nation.)
Emperors could have hundred to thousands of concubines. And subsequently rich officials and merchants could also have a number of concubines besides wives. The first wife is head or mother wife, other wives are under her headship if the husband is away, and others are concubines and have lower status than the full wives. Offspring from concubines did receive equal wealth/legacy from their father.
Through the thousand years of Chinese history, the particular nature of Chinese men is distilled down to a saying in traditional Chinese folklore wisdom: "A wife is not as good as a concubine, a concubine is not as good as prostitute, a prostitute is not as good as secret affair..." (妻不如妾, 妾不如妓, 妓不如偷, 偷不如偷不到)[1]
The original wife is referred to as the 正室 (main room) both in China & Japan. 大婆 (big woman/big wife) is the slang term. Both indicate the orthodox nature & hierarchy. The official wife is either called as "big mother" (大媽), mother or auntie. The child of the mistress simply addresses the big mother as auntie.
The written word for the second woman (and literally means "she who occupied the side room") is 側室. This word is also used in both China and Japan.
The everyday common terms referring to the second woman and the act of having the second woman respectively are 二奶 (er nai / yi nai) & 二奶包 (er nai cun / yi nai tsuen). The terms have been widely used in the media. [2] Though illegal, it is still practiced by many richer men who can afford so (supporting a second partner and subsequent children from her). The mass media often report polygyny cases of the Rich and the famous.
[edit] People's Republic of China (PRC)
In modern mainland China, polygamy (and by extension polygyny) is illegal under Marriage Law passed in 1951[citation needed]. Polygyny was seen as a characteristic of the bourgeoisie and as such, many senior Communist leaders who had mistresses and concubines during the Long March were forced to disband them. Because of this, polygyny is virtually unheard of in China today
However, with the opening up of the country and the increased contact with Hong Kong and Taiwan, certain polygamous activities began appearing. Cross-border polygyny is ever increasing between PRC, Hong Kong & ROC.[citation needed].
[edit] Taiwan - Republic of China (ROC)
Polygyny is illegal. However, it is not uncommon for some richer Taiwanese to have secret second lovers who become concubines not living together with the wife[citation needed]. Taiwanese merchants, businessmen and workers are stationed in mainland China during work trips, and it is not unusual to keep secret lovers or even secret families there.
[edit] Hong Kong & Macau
Polygyny was banned in October of 1971 but the practice is still evident. A famous example is Dr Stanley Ho who owned the Macau Casino in Lisboa. He has 4 wives (plus one more lover). His uncle has 12 wives.
In Hong Kong, since work pressure is extremely high and birth rate is the lowest among the world, many Hong Kong businessmen keep a secret concubine across the border in mainland China. One of the reasons is that the cost of maintaining a second family there in the PRC is lower. Girls in mainland China are also more willing to be a full-time mother at a younger age.
In a research paper of Berlin Humboldt University on sexiology, Doctor Man-Lun Ng quoted that the estimation of about 300,000 men have mistresses in China. In 1995, 40% of the extramarital affairs involved a stable partner [3] International Herald Tribune Kevin Murphy had reported the cross-border polygyny phenomenon in Hong Kong in 1995. [4]
Period drama exists and is performed to this day which depicts the former culture of the polygamy (usually polygyny) practice. A famous example: one of the saga (The Deer and the Cauldron / The Duke of the Mount Deer) by Hong Kong famous writer Louis Cha (Jin Yung): he assigned 7 willing wives for the very capable leading role Wai-Siu-Bo (Wei-Shao-Bao) who is a successful double spy good at office politics and human relations. The fiction and subsequent films and television drama became immensely popular among Chinese societies across the world.
[edit] Islam
Many majority Muslim countries retain traditional Sharia which interpret the teachings of the Quran to permit polygyny up to four wives. Certain elements within Islam challenge its acceptability. See marriage for a discussion on the extent to which states can and do recognize these forms as valid.
[edit] Russian and ex-Soviet societies
Ramzan Kadyrov, President of the Chechen Republic, was quoted on radio saying that the depopulation of Chechnya by war justifies legalizing polygamy/polygyny. [5] Polygyny is illegal throughout the Russian Federation but it is tolerated in predominantly Muslim republics such as Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan. [6]
Although non-Muslim Russian populations are historically monogamous, Russian nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky offers to legalise polygyny in order to tackle the demographic crisis of Russians. Zhirinovsky who made his first proposal of legalisation of polygyny as early as 1993, after Kadyrov's statement declared that he would introduce an amendment to legalise polygyny for all Russian citizens. [7][8]
There were also recent arguments in favour of re-legalising polygyny in Muslim former Soviet republics like Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan. [9] Due to subsequent increase in number of polygamous marriages, proposals were also made in Tajikistan to re-legalise polygyny. [10]
[edit] United States
The most prominent American polygynous society is the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a splinter sect of Mormonism based in Colorado City. In 2005, a meeting was called between the governors of Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico in an effort to economically and politically isolate religious sects that practice polygyny, mainly the FLDS.[citation needed] British Columbia has also politically isolated its small polygynous religious community, located in the southeastern portion of the province[citation needed].
[edit] Animal polygyny
Monogamy is rare among mammals; only 3% of species are monogamous[citation needed]. Monogamy is more common among primates: about 15% of species[citation needed]. About 19% of human societies sampled for diversity (figure 1) are strictly monogamous, but the data on human polygyny suggest that in most societies most marriages are monogamous even though the majority of societies permit polygyny. Polyandry is very rare among mammals and humans[citation needed].
[edit] Chimpanzees
Chimpanzees have a multi-male social organization, meaning that groups include several males and several females. Within chimp groups there appear to be several variations on mating patterns: The typical pattern is for several related males to dominate the group. This dominant fraternity shares sexual access to females and prevents other males from mating. A different pattern is for one male and one female to establish a kind of relationship, then when the female enters estrus, she and the male split off from the group for several weeks, when they have sex repeatedly in secluded parts of the forest. These “consortships” are temporary arrangements, sometimes between male and female friends and sometimes males coerce females into consortships. Males involved in consortships may or may not be part of the dominant male coalition. The frequency of consortships varies from one chimp group to the next, hinting at the kind of mating variation we see in humans. Sometimes a single dominant male chimp can monopolize sexual access to females and the group may be effectively polygynous for a time.
Polygyny will reduce the effective population size of a given closed population[citation needed].
[edit] The sociobiology of polygyny
Amongst vertebrates, especially so with mammals, polygyny is probably the most common mating system. The likelihood that a species displays polygyny is increased when the following characteristics are present:
- Sexual dimorphism, where (in comparison with females) males are:
- more colourful
- larger
- more aggressive
- better equipped for fighting
- Uniparental care of the young (with fathers contributing less than mothers to the care of offspring, or in some species contributing nothing at all)
- Delayed sexual maturity among males (relative to females of the same species, or to males of related species with different mating systems)
Some species show facultative polygamy, where males mate with multiple females only when resource conditions are favourable. Recent research on voles has identified the genetic difference that predisposes one species to polygyny and another closely related species to pair bonding[citation needed]. The brain hormone mechanisms through which this very slight genetic difference acts have also been identified; they involve the response to vasopressin and oxytocin[citation needed].
[edit] External links
- The Chinese University Of Hong Kong: Anthropology Department: Research Topics
- Hong Kong Anthropological Society: speeches summary
[edit] Bibliography
- Korotayev, Andrey (2004). World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations: A Cross-cultural Perspective, First Edition, Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 0-7734-6310-0.
