It's not too far of a stretch to assume that if the definition of marriage is changed to "two consenting adults" it could later be changed to "two or more consenting adults," amirite?
Polygamy will always be illegal because of its socioeconomic implications. A society where men (seeing as polygyny is the most common type) could marry as many women as they wanted would result in a two-class society where all the women are married off to richer men and the poorer men are never married and their genetic line dies off.
Gay marriage doesn't do anything to society or the economy.
What about complete polygamy, in which both men and women can marry as many people of both genders as they want? It would be extremely confusing, but I don't think it would change the economy in quite the same way as polygyny.
Also, why do you think that all women would be "married off" to richer men? The way it's phrased makes it sound as if the women are not making a choice in marrying. Plenty of women choose to marry less wealthy men with monogamous marriage; why would polygamy change that?
To answer your first question, I think the issue with that is that too many people would get caught up in the economic issues of marriage. Like, what if one person marries twenty people, has one kid with each, and then divorces five of them? Does he have to pay alimony to five people? Speaking of children, what would happen there? People could have tons, and then have tons of step-children, too. Also, how could you marry someone without being sure that they weren't your cousin or something? Eventually everyone would be related.
As for your second question, of course some women would marry the other class, but polygamy is mostly about collecting women. It's an inherently sexist system, so women often lose their choice. And if you look at actual polygamist societies, parents tend to make the most money from a bride price, so they try and find the highest bride price they can get.
@ctiscooler Your second comment makes no sense. I can't imagine anyone would consent to have their partner married to twenty other people, and that wasn't even the point of the post. What you're saying is utterly ridiculous and unrelated to the issue at hand.
Let me explain. Firstly, even if we were discussing the sort of polygamy you seem to think we are, I doubt people would suddenly start marrying numerous people and having excessive amounts of children. That's just not how the world works.
Secondly, the post is clearly trying to say that marriage could be between "two or more consenting adults". That is, they would all be married to each other.
I really want to emphasise the fact that the post is not promoting the marriage of one person to several other people.
Polygamy will always be illegal because of its socioeconomic implications. A society where men (seeing as polygyny is the most common type) could marry as many women as they wanted would result in a two-class society where all the women are married off to richer men and the poorer men are never married and their genetic line dies off.
Gay marriage doesn't do anything to society or the economy.
What about complete polygamy, in which both men and women can marry as many people of both genders as they want? It would be extremely confusing, but I don't think it would change the economy in quite the same way as polygyny.
Also, why do you think that all women would be "married off" to richer men? The way it's phrased makes it sound as if the women are not making a choice in marrying. Plenty of women choose to marry less wealthy men with monogamous marriage; why would polygamy change that?
To answer your first question, I think the issue with that is that too many people would get caught up in the economic issues of marriage. Like, what if one person marries twenty people, has one kid with each, and then divorces five of them? Does he have to pay alimony to five people? Speaking of children, what would happen there? People could have tons, and then have tons of step-children, too. Also, how could you marry someone without being sure that they weren't your cousin or something? Eventually everyone would be related.
As for your second question, of course some women would marry the other class, but polygamy is mostly about collecting women. It's an inherently sexist system, so women often lose their choice. And if you look at actual polygamist societies, parents tend to make the most money from a bride price, so they try and find the highest bride price they can get.
I was just replying to Anonymous's comment.
@ctiscooler Your second comment makes no sense. I can't imagine anyone would consent to have their partner married to twenty other people, and that wasn't even the point of the post. What you're saying is utterly ridiculous and unrelated to the issue at hand.
Let me explain. Firstly, even if we were discussing the sort of polygamy you seem to think we are, I doubt people would suddenly start marrying numerous people and having excessive amounts of children. That's just not how the world works.
Secondly, the post is clearly trying to say that marriage could be between "two or more consenting adults". That is, they would all be married to each other.
I really want to emphasise the fact that the post is not promoting the marriage of one person to several other people.
Yes, it could. And I don't see why that's a problem.