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moms rule (mander.xyz)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There are definitely cultures who have practiced polygyny to get around this issue. Some still do today, for example in many different countries in Africa where people still practice a pastoral life.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I don't see how polygyny gets around the issue of risk of death from pregnancy.

Polygyny would get around the issue of men getting killed.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Polygyny is where one man has many wives.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Edit: This first point was wrong, but the second point still stands.

Polygyny wouldn't solve the aforementioned problem if we suppose that the birth rate of men and women is roughly the same. If one man has many wives, some of whom even die, then several other men won't have any wives.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

The birth rate of XY babies is actually slightly higher than XX babies. On the other hand, babies with higher testosterone tend to have weaker immune systems and so are more susceptible to infant mortality from disease.

Otherwise, I’m not sure what the problem is with men who don’t have wives? They simply don’t reproduce. Throughout history men have reproduced at a lower rate than women. In polygynous cultures it’s only the very powerful and wealthy men who have many wives. The poor and powerless men have few or none.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Huh, really? I thought there were slightly more women than men, but maybe that depends on the economies etc.

As for your second point, yes, exactly. They don't reproduce. So it doesn't matter if many men get one wife each, or if a few men get many wives each, the number of pregnancies won't change, and the number of pregnancy-related deaths won't change either. So (again), I don't see how polygyny helps in this situation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I guess I’ve forgotten what the problem was exactly. High maternal mortality? How is that not solved by having many redundant wives?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

You don't just "have many redundant wives". It starts out roughly 50/50 from birth no matter what you do.

You either have more women by having a lot of single men, or a lot of dead men, or by taking women from other places.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Yes I mentioned that earlier in the thread. Polygyny = some men have many wives, others have none.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

Which does nothing to help with the issue of mothers dying from pregnancy, unless there's something more that you know?