Polygamy

The term polygamy (literally many marriage in late Greek) is used in related ways in social anthropology and sociobiology.

How polygamists find more spouses

Those who live in their own communities tend to find their additional spouses from within their own communities or networks of like-communities. Those who are geographically separated from other polygamists in their culture use other means to find additional spouses. Some polygamists from all groups use the Internet to find additional spouses.

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Mormon fundamentalists - aggregate in communities

So-called Mormon fundamentalists (who are not associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) continue to practice polygamy today, more than 100 years after the LDS Church discontinued the practice. These fundamentalists practice polygamy by tending to aggregate in communities where they all commonly share their own specific religious basis for polygamy.

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Muslims & traditionalist cultures

Polygamy, and laws concerning polygamy, differ greatly throughout the Islamic world and form a very complex and diverse background from nation to nation. Whereas in some Muslim countries it may be fairly common, in most others it is often rare or non-existent. However, there are certain core fundamentals which are found in most Muslim countries where the practice occurs. According to traditional Islamic law, a man may take up to four wives, and each of those wives must have her own property, assets, and dowry. Usually the wives have little to no contact with each other and lead separate, individual lives in their own houses, and sometimes in different cities, though they all share the same husband. Thus, polygamy is traditionally restricted to wealthy men, and in some countries it is illegal for a man to marry multiple wives if he is unable to afford to take care of each of them properly.

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In the modern Islamic world, polygamy is mainly found in traditionalist Arab cultures, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for instance, whereas in secular Arab states like Lebanon and non-Arab Muslim countries, Turkey and Malaysia for example, it is either extremely rare or even banned outright. In traditionalist cultures where polygamy is still commonplace and legal, Muslim polygamists do not separate themselves from the society at large, since there would be no need as each spouse leads a separate life from the others.

Related Topics:
Saudi Arabia - United Arab Emirates - Lebanon - Turkey - Malaysia

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Christians & seculars - geographically separated

Most Christian polygamists are usually quite geographically separated from other like-minded believers. Christian polygamy involves a very different model for polygamy. It is not a "rewards based" theology whatsoever. And it very much affords women rights, seeking to deliberately minister and help them be the best they can be. Based only on the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, Christian polygamy is based on the Bible's Ephesians 5:22-25 instructions. Husbands are to be ministering, selfless, and loving as "Christ is to His churches." This teaching requires husbands to be genuinely caring and nurturing of women - in the same way as Christ is toward "His brides," the churches. Husbands are never to "force" polygamy upon or against any current wife. LoveNotForce.com sets the "standard of Christian Polygamy." If "God truly calls" a family to polygamy, then a husband must simply love his wife until "God truly calls" the wife to also embrace it. Until she does so, and does so without any coercion, he may not otherwise "force" polygamy upon her. Because Christian polygamy involves no religious "rewards" for polygamy, there is also no pressure upon women to embrace it. When a Christian woman does embrace Christian polygamy, she does so of her own free will, seeing her husband as a genuinely Christ-like, giving man. With that high standard, Christian polygamous families seek very moral, Christian women. In a modern Western view which is sometimes unaware of the existence of such different models for polygamous marriage, finding such high-moral Christian women who are also willing to be polygamous can be quite a challenge for Christian polygamists. That challenge becomes compounded by the fact that most Christian polygamists are usually geographically separated from other like-minded believers. Because of such doctrinal compassion for women and wanting to help women, Christian polygamous families frequently arise after the development of a relationship with a secular-divorced Christian mother whose un-Christian ex-husband had abandoned her and the children.

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Secular polygamists are also usually separated geographically from others of the same mindset. When such individual secular families develop, they tend to be situational occurrences, having little or no religious background regarding the issue of polygamy. A secular married couple might either stumble into a relationship with a third person or deliberately seek for a libertine "open-minded" person to become a permanent part of their family. For them, it's all about their free choice.

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With Christian polygamy's "love-not-force" standard and secular polygamy's "free choice" paradigm, these "pro-woman" models of polygamy have emerged to break down the mistaken stereotypes of polygamy in general.

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Perceiving that Western society simply needs to be more educated of such "pro-woman" models of polygamy, most Christian polygamists and secular polygamists have little or no inclination to separate into isolated communities.

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On the Internet - polygamy personals

When it comes to seeking polygamous family situations via the internet, the options are very limited.

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For polyandrists, there are no web-sites dedicated to providing ads for single men seeking polyandry or even for polyandrous families seeking such single men. The only online opportunities for such ads would likely be found on polyamory sites such as PolyMatchMaker.com. The cause of that is mostly due to how very few people are involved in polyandry and to the tendency of most polyandrous-inclined men to be bisexual.

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However, the very different kinds of relationship-seekers who would advertise on such polyamory sites involve additional issues with which most polygynists would never be interested in nor comfortable with being associated. Mormon, Muslim, and Christian polygamists are all exclusively polygyny-based, and all typically do not involve bisexual issues. Even most secular polygamists tend to be polygynists too.

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A handful of polygamy web-sites have attempted to offer such "polygamy personals" for polygynists. But such sites accomplish very little because they always lack the most sought-after individuals: single women who are actually and currently interested in marrying polygynously. Only one site, 2Wives.com - Polygamy Personals, has actually ever been able to put a functioning system in place to provide such current ads of such real women.

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