AHC: Criminalise Monogamy

jahenders

Banned
I don't think you could effectively criminalize monogamy since it's the state one would be in when the first got married (unless they acquired multiple spouses at once) and if other spouses died.

However, you could make it taboo for someone to not consider taking additional spouses if the situation warranted it. For example, if after a major war, you had a high percentage of widows and women with no prospects, then any man who can afford to do so, should be willing to take additional wives and his wife should encourage him doing so. If they don't, then he might be considered selfish for wanting to retain more of his wealth and/or she might be considered selfish for not being willing to share her husband (and his wealth/time).

As some have noted, that could theoretically work both ways. If, instead, a situation arises where you have considerably more men than women, then women might be expected to take multiple husbands (and their first husband encourage them to do so).

BTW, there was an interesting SF book years ago that mentioned the multiple wives scenario, but it was only in the case where a guy died. Then his brother, or other kin, were obliged to take his wife (and children) as his own. So, it was only necessity based. I can't recall the name for sure.
 

Sycamore

Banned
I don't think you could effectively criminalize monogamy since it's the state one would be in when the first got married (unless they acquired multiple spouses at once) and if other spouses died.

However, you could make it taboo for someone to not consider taking additional spouses if the situation warranted it. For example, if after a major war, you had a high percentage of widows and women with no prospects, then any man who can afford to do so, should be willing to take additional wives and his wife should encourage him doing so. If they don't, then he might be considered selfish for wanting to retain more of his wealth and/or she might be considered selfish for not being willing to share her husband (and his wealth/time).

As some have noted, that could theoretically work both ways. If, instead, a situation arises where you have considerably more men than women, then women might be expected to take multiple husbands (and their first husband encourage them to do so).

BTW, there was an interesting SF book years ago that mentioned the multiple wives scenario, but it was only in the case where a guy died. Then his brother, or other kin, were obliged to take his wife (and children) as his own. So, it was only necessity based. I can't recall the name for sure.

I suppose not- that's a very good point. Maybe I'll go back and change the title. :eek: But you may be able to have the taboo aspect creating a situation where monogamy (exclusive pair bonding) is generally illegal, but its practice isn't fully criminalised.
 
Well, one possibility is to see which type of societys discouraged monogamy in OTL. The best example of such a culture (that worked for several generations) would be the Mosuo miniority in China:

One of the best known, and least understood, aspects of Mosuo culture is their practice of what has been termed "walking marriage" (zou hun in Chinese). There is no traditional marriage in Mosuo culture. Therefore, there are no husbands or wives. Rather than a concept similar to the Western conception of marriage, Mosuo culture has "walking marriages" or "visiting relations," in which partners do not live in the same household. Children of such relationships are raised by their mothers and the mothers' families. Shih (2010) is the most sophisticated anthropological account of Mosuo practices of sexual union.

All on-going sexual relationships in Mosuo culture are called "walking marriages." These bonds are "based on mutual affection." When a Mosuo woman or man expresses interest in a potential partner, it is the woman who may give the man permission to visit her. These visits are usually kept secret, with the man visiting the woman's house after dark, spending the night, and returning to his own home in the morning. Mosuo women and men can engage in sexual relations with as many partners as they wish.

Link
 
BTW, there was an interesting SF book years ago that mentioned the multiple wives scenario, but it was only in the case where a guy died. Then his brother, or other kin, were obliged to take his wife (and children) as his own. So, it was only necessity based. I can't recall the name for sure.

It is not science fiction, it is Levirate marriage.
I guess that is closest you can get to criminalizing Monogamy and obligatory Polygamy.
 

jahenders

Banned
I didn't mean to imply that the form of polygamy was SF, but that I first heard about it in a SF book.

BTW, I saw a short documentary on a variation of sorts. In several African kingdoms, the wives of the king picked the new king. Upon ascending the throne, all of the old king's wives became his wives, including his mother. These wives, generally older and more knowledgeable of power politics and tradition than he, trained him in kingship.

It is not science fiction, it is Levirate marriage.
I guess that is closest you can get to criminalizing Monogamy and obligatory Polygamy.
 
There was a Star Trek episode about two lost colonies One a clone society facing genetic copying errors the other drunken (Irish) apologies)) farmers small non-viable population any way both colonies had to be abandoned and relocated (Nova?) they were then combined with the women taking multiple husbands as a selling point for them

http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Up_The_Long_Ladder_(episode)
 
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If you think of marriage as an economic mechanism to pool the labor and property of two individuals and/or families, then certain forms of communism would abolish monogamy since everyone would be effectively married to everyone else.
 
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