How Polygamy Harms Society (article)

note: this research is interesting from a Taoist perspective by showing how important the balance of yin-yang sexually is to society. What is true at large is ultimately the truth that need be cultivated within. – michael

POLYGAMY IS HARMFUL TO SOCIETY, SCHOLAR FINDS
By Daphne Bramham
The Vancouver Sun
July 19, 2010

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Polygamy+harmful+society+scholar+finds/3290
757/story.html#ixzz0uA1tupuW

Increased crime, prostitution and anti-social behaviour. Greater inequality
between men and women. Less parental investment in children. And, a general
driving down of the age of marriage for all women.

These are some of the harms of polygamy (or more correctly, polygyny, since
it is almost always men marrying more than once) that are outlined in a
45-page research paper by noted Canadian scholar Joseph Henrich, filed
Friday in B.C. Supreme Court.

Henrich is uniquely qualified to look at polygamy’s harm. He’s a member of
the departments of economics, psychology and anthropology at the University
of British Columbia and holds the Canada Research Chair in Culture,
Cognition and Coevolution.

But he’d never really thought about it until this year when Craig Jones
approached him. Jones is the lead lawyer in the B.C. government’s
constitutional reference case, which will be heard in November by B.C.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Bauman.

Now, Henrich’s conclusions form part of the intellectual and evidentiary
underpinning for the province’s argument that even if outlawing polygamy
breaches the constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and freedom of
expression, it’s justified.

In addition to Henrich’s paper, the government has filed or will be filing
affidavits from other specialists in the history of Western polygamy,
Islamic law, psychology and medicine.

Fifteen former fundamentalist Mormons have provided video testimony about
their experiences growing up in polygamous communities in Canada and the
United States.

Among them is Truman Oler. He is the 28-year-old brother of James Oler, the
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints bishop in
Bountiful, and the nephew of Winston Blackmore, the former bishop who now
heads a breakaway sect.

But for James Oler and Blackmore, there would be no court case. Both men
were charged with polygamy in 2009. But after those charges were stayed,
Attorney-General Mike de Jong asked the B.C. Supreme Court to rule on the
law’s constitutionality.

To illustrate the harm, Henrich provides the court with an example of
polygyny’s cruel arithmetic.

In a hypothetical society of 20 men and 20 women, 12 men with the highest
status marry 12 women. (It’s always only the highest-ranking men in
polygynous societies that get multiple wives.)

Then, the top five take a second wife and the top two men take a third.
Finally, the top guy takes a fourth.

The result is that 58 per cent of the marriages are monogamous.

But — and this is the big deal — it means 40 per cent of the men remain
unmarried.

Yes, 40 per cent.

And Henrich’s example is conservative. Blackmore has more than 20 wives.
FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs, who is in jail in Utah, has more than 80.

And the studies Henrich cites -from historical, frontier-American research
to contemporary work done in countries where polygamy is legal -indicate
that groups of unmarried men create havoc.

“For males, getting married (monogamously) is a prophylactic against
engaging in crime, social disruption and other socially undesirable
activities,” he writes.

In India and China, where male-biased sex selection has resulted in more men
than women, researchers found “bachelor bands that compete ferociously and
engage in aggressive, violent and anti-social activities.”

China’s one-child policy resulted in the number of “surplus” men nearly
doubling … along with the crime rates. In a recent study, researchers
there concluded that for every 0.01 increase in sex ratio, property and
violent crimes rise by three per cent.

In India, the state of Kerala’s murder rate is half that of Uttar Pradesh.
The reason? Kerala’s male-to-female ratio is 97:100; Uttar Pradesh’s is
112:100.

Another social harm that Henrich says is consistent regardless of whether
researchers use data from 19th-century Mormon communities or contemporary
African societies is that children from polygynous families have
considerably lower survival rates. It seems polygynous men, rather than
investing in their offspring, use their money to add wives.

“Monogamy seems to direct male motivations in ways that create lower crime
rates, greater wealth (GDP) per capita and better outcomes for children,”
Henrich concludes.

But what’s more surprising than his conclusions is his speculation that
monogamy is at the root of democracy and equality.

He argues that as the idea of monogamy spread through Europe during the 15th
century, king and peasant alike had the same rules and the idea of equality
gained a foothold — at least among men.

With reduced competition for women, men began loosening their tight control
over wives and daughters.

And with fewer unmarried men, the pool of soldiers that had previously been
harnessed by warring rulers was reduced.

Even though this compelling argument goes far beyond the scope of the trial,
it may make it even harder for polygamy’s advocates to convince the judge
that its practice is benign.