Polygyny

“ One woman may have several husbands. The two forms of polygamy may conveniently be called polygyny and polyandry, and these terms should always be distinguished in any attempt at a precise account of polygamous marriage. Polygyny is very prevalent even in our day, occurring particularly in the Mohammedan world, but also among the heathen peoples of Africa, and in other regions as well. It was likewise practised by the ancient Israelites, and also by the Greeks, although the Indo-Germanic tribes for the most part adhered to monogamy from early times on. ”

“ No doubt man's animal propensities have had much to do with the existence of this form of the family. Nevertheless, while male sensuality is at the basis of polygyny, it would be a mistake to think that sensuality is an adequate explanation in all cases. On the contrary, we find many other causes, chiefly, perhaps, economic, operating also to favor the development of polygyny. ”

“ Let us next consider the causes which favor the rise of polygyny. It is highly probable, in countries "unaffected by European civilization," that a surplus of women has exerted an influence in its favor. [447] Thus in India polygyny is found among peoples where there is a plurality of women, and polyandry where the reverse is the case. [448] Among the Kafirs and the aboriginal tribes of North America polygyny usually appears only where the women outnumber the men. [449] This disparity of the sexes may sometimes be due to the ravages of war ”

“ But, though civilization up to a certain point is favourable to polygyny, its higher forms invariably and necessarily lead to monogamy. We have noted that polygyny has, in many ways, become less desirable for the civilized man than it was for his barbarian and savage ancestors, and that other causes have co-operated to produce the same result. Again, polyandry, being due to an excess of men and presupposing an abnormally feeble disposition to jealousy, must at all times have been exceptional ”

“ We must recognize, then, that polygyny, like other forms of marriage, is basically a cultural institution rooted deeply in the religious beliefs and social mores of those societies in which it appears. It is equally true that the briefs and mores of the dominant culture of the contemporary world condemn the practice as immoral and substitute monogamy in its place. To those beliefs and mores I subscribe, but that does not alter the fact that polygyny is a form of marriage built upon a set of social and moral principles. ”

“ The word, therefore, to be used, is not polygamy, but polygyny, for polygamy signifies a man with more wives than one, or a woman with more husbands than one; and it seems to me that if a man can have more wives than one a woman has the same right to have more husbands than one. Then the true word is polygyny, and hereafter we will scout the word polygamy, and use the true word polygyny. ”

“ The natural human deviations from the monogamic order seem to be generally of this character, and largely conditioned by the social and economic environment. The most common variation, and that which most clearly possesses a biological foundation, is the tendency to polygyny, which is found at all stages of culture, even, in an unrecognized and more or less promiscuous shape, in the highest civilization. ”

“ At a still more advanced stage of culture, under pressure of those influences which have led to the social elevation of woman, polygyny yields in turn to monogamy. "When the feelings of women are held in due respect, monogamy will necessarily be the only recognized form of marriage. In no way does the progress of mankind show itself more clearly [151] than in the increased acknowledgment of women's rights, and the causes which, at lower stages of development, may make polygyny desired by women themselves, do not exist in highly civilized societies. ”

“ We have seen that polygyny has a higher moral character among certain Indian tribes where matriarchism rules, and where the wife is mistress of the house and family. The danger of degradation of the woman ceases when she is equal to the man as regards rights and property. In fact, in such a social state, polygyny can only constitute an exception. It is here entirely free and becomes all the more innocent because divorce is facilitated and strict laws on the feeding and education of the children limit the male sexual appetite. ”

“ However desirable polygyny may be from man’s point of view, it is, as we have seen, altogether prohibited among many peoples, and, in countries where it is an established institution, it is practised, as a rule to which there are few exceptions, only by a comparatively small class. The proportion between the sexes partly accounts for this. ”

“ Thus the solution of the problem of so-called marriage by capture appears to be similar to that of polygyny. The practice of taking several wives is exceedingly common; but on close examination we discover that polygyny is relatively unimportant, and that it has never been able to displace monogamy as the normal type. ”

“ We too often forget that our failure to recognize such variations merely means that we accord in such cases an illegitimate permission to perpetrate injustice. In those parts of the world in which polygyny is recognized as a permissible variation a man is legally held to his natural obligations towards all his sexual mates and towards the children he has by those mates. In no part of the world is polygyny so prevalent as in Christendom; in no part of the world is it so easy for a man to escape the obligations incurred by polygyny. ”

“ One example of polygyny is the marriage of Kuriolv (56) with two wives, one of about the same age as himself, the other a young wife whom he shares with Onadj (57) . In another case Odrkurs (1) , has two wives, the second wife being a young girl recently married in the hope of obtaining a son (see P. 550) . ”

“ But this is too favorable an estimate of the relative social value of polygyny. It is doubtful, to say the least, whether morally and physically it is more favorable to the offspring than polyandry; and it is almost certain that it is far worse in its effects upon the home and condition of women. ”

“ I take it, polygyny, monogamy, and polyandry (or its equivalents) must have occurred in every district from the first;" but the cases of polyandry would be much more numerous. "Polyandry, in my view, is an advance from, and contraction of, promiscuity. It gives men wives. Till men have wives they may have tastes, but they have no obligations in matters of sex. You may be sure polygyny in the early stage never had the sanction of group opinion." ”

“ Marriage, like the family itself, is variable, and an indefinite number of forms may be found among various peoples. We shall notice, however, only the three leading forms,—polyandry, polygyny, and monogamy,—and attempt to show the natural conditions which favor each. It is evident that if we assume that the primitive form of the family was that of a simple pairing monogamy, the burden is laid upon us to show how such different types as polyandry and polygyny arose. ”

“ It is not my purpose to defend the practice of polygamy or to claim that it is morally the equivalent of monogamy. But it is essential to understand what it is as well as what it is not. Only in that way can we intelligently decide whether it falls within the same genus as prostitution or debauchery.
There are four fundamental forms of marriage: (1) monogamy; (2) polygamy, or one man with several wives; (3) polyandry, or one woman with several husbands; and (4) group marriage. The term 'polygamy' covers both polygyny and polyandry. ”

“ The reason for this is not only the economic one just mentioned, but that everywhere the sexes are relatively equal in numbers, and therefore it is impossible for polygyny to become a widespread general custom. If some men have more than one wife it is evident that other men will probably have to forego marriage entirely. This is not saying that under certain circumstances, namely, the importation of large numbers of women, a higher per cent of polygynous families may not exist. ”

“ But McLennan meets this difficulty by insisting that wife-stealing, among polyandrous peoples would lead to polygyny on the part of the most successful. This would also explain the inconsistency alleged by Spencer (648) that polygyny and polyandry sometimes coexist, as among Fuegians, Caribo, Eskimo, Warrens, Hottentots, and the ancient Britons. ”

“ Thus the basic cause of polygyny is not economic, but psychological; and given certain moral and economic conditions of society, these polygynous tendencies assert themselves. Monogamy, on the other hand, has in no sense been determined by economic conditions but is fundamentally determined by the biological fact of the numerical equality of the sexes. This is doubtless the main reason why monogamy has been the prevalent form of the family everywhere. ”

“ On the other hand, women object to polyandry, because polyandry enables the best women to monopolize all the men, just as polygyny enables the best men to monopolize all the women. That is why all our ordinary men and women are unanimous in defence of monogamy, the men because it excludes polygyny, and the women because it excludes polyandry. The women, left to themselves, would tolerate polygyny. The men, left to themselves, would tolerate polyandry. But polygyny would condemn a great many men, and polyandry a great many women, to the celibacy of neglect. ”

“ The connections which we have seen exist between militancy and polygyny, and between industrialness and monogamy, present the same truth under another aspect; since polygyny necessarily implies a low status of women, and monogamy, if it does not necessarily imply a high status, is an essential condition to a high status. ”

“ There is one example of polygyny in the genealogies in which a young boy, Mokudr of Nidrsi (42) , has two wives, both young girls. He has been doubly married in order that he may get rid of one of his wives by the terersthi custom and so become rich. He has been married to two wives in order that he may sell one.
When a man or a group of men have more than one wife, the two wives usually live together at the same village, but sometimes they live at different villages, the husband or husbands moving about from one village to the other. ”

“ Among the Teutons, at the beginning of their history, we come across plurality of wives in the West,2656 and especially in434 the North. The Scandinavian kings indulged in polygyny,2657 and it does not seem to have been restricted to them only.2658 Nor was it unknown to the pagan Russians.2659 In the Finnish poems, though polygyny is not mentioned, there are passages which seem to indicate that it was not entirely unheard of among the Finns of early times.2660
Even in the Christian world open polygyny has occasionally been permitted, or at least tolerated. ”

“ Both practices are found in the same group, and both are essential to an explanation of their system of consanguinity. The last-named system of consanguinity and affinity presupposes punaluan marriage in the group. This and the Malayan exhibit the forms of polygyny and polyandry with which ethnography is concerned; while the Nair and Tibetan forms of polyandry are not only insufficient to explain the systems, but are of no general importance. ”

“ Until then indissoluble marriage will continue to be one of the sources of polygyny in Europe and America.
Another cause of polygyny, especially in Great Britain, is to be sought in the preponderance of women in the population. The surplus of marriageable women who remain single is often overstated. Never- theless, there is an immense army of compulsory celibate women. Certain city areas are inhabited chiefly by unmarried women. Such a phenomenon utterly bewilders the intelligent Eastern visitor. ”

“ Much of the polygyny, and polyandry also, which prevails among us to-day is an altogether artificial and unnatural form of polygamy. Marriages which on a more natural basis would be dissolved cannot legally be dissolved, and consequently the parties to them, instead of changing their partners and so preserving the natural monogamic order, take on other additional partners and so introduce an unnatural polygamy. There will always be variations from the monogamic order and civilization is certainly not hostile to sexual variation. ”

“ We have seen above that in a European community we mean by marriage a union between two persons of opposite sexes, entered into with due legal formalities, and not dissoluble simply at the will of either or both the parties concerned. When we go further afield the connotation of the term is extended to embrace (1) polygyny, in which one male is associated with two or more females, (2) polyandry, in which one female is similarly associated with more than one male, and (3) the condition which I propose to term polygamy, in which both these conditions are found. ”

“ The monogamy of the political age, on the other hand, is confronted by all those conflicting tendencies which had previously given rise to the various polygamous marriage-unions of totemic society. One of these modes of marriage especially, namely, polygyny, finds favourable conditions of development in the new political [Pg 316] order. It receives fresh impetus as a result of that very dominance of man which brought about the transition from the maternal descent of earlier times to paternal descent. ”

“ Among the semi-civilised communities of our time, polygyny is far commoner than polygamy. The secondary wife, or concubine, is found amongst the Fijians, the tribes of the Pacific Coast, in Madagascar, in Uganda, Ashanti, and other parts of Africa. ”