there is no polygamy in America

[mek42]

I am tired of hearing the news using the word polygamy to describe the polygyny practiced by various Mormon and Islam sects.  Unless women have multiple husbands in addition to men having multiple wives it is polygyny, not polygamy.  (For completeness, if the case was only women having multiple husbands it would be polyandry.)

[Gewehr98]

Why are you so upset about it?

BTW, how many wives do you have?   

[Tallpine]

And it's a "magazine" - not a "clip" 

[Balog]

I thought "polygamy" was a catchall that described both polyandry and polygyny?

[mek42]

It's been one of those days and I just needed to rant.

One wife is quite enough, thank you!

And yes, this may be a science definition versus the general public usage thing.

But for a Garand they are clips!

Laughing at myself and feeling better now, thanks!

[Perd Hapley]

Oh, just saw your latest post.  What annoys me is that they keep calling them "spiritual marriages."  To me, that term implies that the marriage is purely Platonic, without any sexual contact.  Extralegal or alegal would seem more appropriate terms. 


mek, where are you getting your definitions?  Going by the dictionary definitions I've seen, by common usage, and by simply looking at the roots of the words, you would appear to be quite mistaken.  So far as I know:

Polygamy is any marriage with more than two participants.  "Poly" refers to "many" and "gamy" refers (roughly) to marriage.

Polygyny means having more than one female sexual partner, regardless of marriage.

Polyandry means having more than one male sexual partner, regardless of marriage.

The only term I know of for a marriage with multiple male AND female partners is "complex marriage," as in the Oneida Colony. 

[BobR]

And it's a "magazine" - not a "clip" 

.45



bob

[mek42]

Oh, just saw your latest post.  What annoys me is that they keep calling them "spiritual marriages."  To me, that term implies that the marriage is purely Platonic, without any sexual contact.  Extralegal or alegal would seem more appropriate terms. 


mek, where are you getting your definitions?  Going by the dictionary definitions I've seen, by common usage, and by simply looking at the roots of the words, you would appear to be quite mistaken.  So far as I know:

Polygamy is any marriage with more than two participants.  "Poly" refers to "many" and "gamy" refers (roughly) to marriage.

Polygyny means having more than one female sexual partner, regardless of marriage.

Polyandry means having more than one male sexual partner, regardless of marriage.

The only term I know of for a marriage with multiple male AND female partners is "complex marriage," as in the Oneida Colony. 

I was extrapolating from the mating behavior part of the Sex, Evolution and Behavior class I took that satisfied the Women's Studies requirement in college.  I'll admit that this may not be the same as common / legal usage.  To use more words, I had thought that polygamy would require that both men with multiple wives and women with multiple husbands be allowed more or less equally within a subculture, else things would more properly be called polygyny or polyandry.  Wouldn't the big group marriage (complex) be a form of polygamy?

[Perd Hapley]

Wouldn't the big group marriage (complex) be a form of polygamy?

Yeah, sure, I guess. 

[wmenorr67]

Couldn't we just call it an orgy and get on with our lives?

[BlueStarLizzard]

Couldn't we just call it an orgy and get on with our lives?

first intellegent responce i've seen on this thread.

[zahc]

Actually, it's my understanding that multiple marriages are illegal in the states. Therefore, there are no multiple (legitimate) marriages in the states.

Illegitimate/extralegal partnerships tend to be outside the scope of the law, and are hardly worth calling 'multiple marriages' unless you allow that everyone with a sexually intimate girlfriend is married, and those with mistresses are also practicing multiple marriage.

[El Tejon]

What is I have multiple Garands?

Am I practicing Polygarandism?

[charby]

Couldn't we just call it an orgy and get on with our lives?

first intellegent responce i've seen on this thread.

mmm okay!

One wife is too much most of the time. Why the hell would anyone want two or more?

[HankB]

. . . One wife is too much most of the time. Why the hell would anyone want two or more?

From, IIRC, the arab sheikh in the movie Ben-Hur:

One wife, no good.
Two wives, always fight.
Three wives, two against one.
Four wives, perfect.

[Scout26]

I can't remember who said it, but:

"The definition of Polygamy having one wife too many, while the defintion of Monogamy is having one wife too many."

 

[seeker_two]

Of course there's no polygamy.....it's illegal in the US.....that would be like saying that there are handguns in D.C........

Polygamy.....the crime that punishes itself.....