WrongBot comments on Unknown knowns: Why did you choose to be monogamous? - Less Wrong

48 Post author: WrongBot 26 June 2010 02:50AM

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Comment author: bentarm 26 June 2010 10:42:40AM *  4 points [-]

Steve Landsburg makes a fairly plausible case that monogamy is essentially a cartel formed by men to prevent them having to work too hard to keep onto their wives:

imagine a one-husband one-wife family where an argument has begun over whose turn it is to do the dishes. If polygamy were legal, the wife could threaten to leave and go marry the couple next door unless the husband conceded that it is his turn. With polygamy outlawed, she does not have this option and might end up with dishpan hands.

If true, this would suggest that women have more to gain from polyamory than men on average (although high-status men might well have the most to gain).

Comment author: WrongBot 26 June 2010 06:09:03PM 4 points [-]

In my experience, the polyamorous community generally includes more women than men, and the women are frequently higher status. Most books on polyamory have been written by women, and they're much more involved in high-level activism than women usually are in other communities; this seems to support your hypothesis.

Comment author: pjeby 26 June 2010 06:30:37PM 4 points [-]

Most books on polyamory have been written by women

That would depend on whether you include the PUA literature, which uses the term "MLTR" (Multiple Long-Term Relationships) to describe more or less the same concept.

Of course, this still might be relevant to the "high-status men might gain most" hypothesis, since the concept of "MLTR" might be a higher status indicator (because it emphasizes the man's choice to have multiple partners) than an interest in "polyamory" (which emphasizes the options of both partners).

Comment author: WrongBot 26 June 2010 06:59:09PM 2 points [-]

While I'm not terribly familiar with the PUA literature, based on your description I would say that most definitions of polyamory exclude it. There's a great deal of scorn in the poly community for relationships with a "one-penis policy," as well as a general emphasis on egalitarianism.

Comment author: pjeby 26 June 2010 08:12:58PM 8 points [-]

While I'm not terribly familiar with the PUA literature, based on your description I would say that most definitions of polyamory exclude it. There's a great deal of scorn in the poly community for relationships with a "one-penis policy," as well as a general emphasis on egalitarianism.

Actually, PUA discussions of MLTR (at least the few I've seen) seem to completely ignore the question of whether the women involved have other partners or not, although I suppose that is not strong evidence in either direction.

Perhaps the authors assume that "of course" exclusives are the default (and thus don't mention it), or perhaps they assume that "of course" things should be egalitarian by default (and thus don't mention it).

(And of course, there may be discussions I haven't seen, since my limited study of the PUA field is focused mainly on personal development and in-relationship applications, and limited to free materials almost exclusively.)