The problems of polygamy

DAWN ^ | October 1, 2014 | Rafia Zakaria

[2ndDivisionVet]

IT is often offered as a solution to the problem of destitute women. If every man married four of them, some have stated, then all women would have a male guardian, a protector, someone to support them.

The reality of polygamy, however, is often neither this neat nor this simple. Last week, The National, a leading newspaper out of the United Arab Emirates, published news of emerging research that reveals how polygamy is injurious to the mental health of women in such relationships, fostering negative emotions and ultimately creating harmful patterns that detract from having a healthy emotional life.

Conducted by Dr Rana Raddawi, an English professor at the American University of Sharjah, the study surveyed 100 Arab women who were in polygamous marriages and found that many of them were consumed by feelings of neglect and jealousy that severely impacted their lives and mental health. For Dr Raddawi, the inspiration for the study came from close to home. Having known several family members in such marriages, she wanted to focus on the emotional costs of polygamy, a facet she believed was largely ignored in other studies.

Despite religious injunctions to enact perfect justice among multiple wives, Dr Raddawi found that many husbands lapse in this regard. Many of the wives she surveyed complained not only that they did not see their husbands regularly but that they were negligent in meeting their financial and support obligations.

In several cases, men did not have the ability to support several households, in which case the amount of support received by a particular wife began to depend on whether or not she was able to cultivate favour with the husband. The consequent emotional issues caused by this state of affairs ranged from depression to anger, hysteria and even illnesses...

[wetphoenix]

~Men want more sex than women (generally)~

LOL. Do you really believe this nonsense?

[Smokin' Joe]

Any woman that falls for this has some serious self-esteem problems.

Any guy who falls for it is a glutton for punishment: Multiple Mothers-in-Law!

[chesley]

I read about an experiment once; don’t know how valid it was.

The scientist put a rooster in with a bunch of hens, and he had his way with them until he was totally exhausted and uninterested. Then he put in a few strange hens. That cock immediately regained interest and vigor.

I think men crave variety more than women. And I know women lose interest when they have young kids. How could it be otherwise? They have to be dead tired.

[wetphoenix]

Bottom line is we are humans, not animals. I kinda agree that polygamy is the least perversion, comparing to homosexuality, pedophilia and so on but it still makes little sense to bring it all here.
So keep the rooster and hens to the farm and leave their lifestyles with them.

[chesley]

I’m not disagreeing with you. I just think men have more interest in sex, as a general rule.

But most of us aren’t animals, as you say.