And then men hoarding resources to invest in getting more wives is a big problem. So the GDP of countries, GDP per capita of countries that have monogamous seems to be higher, partly because wealthy men in polygamous societies particularly spend a lot of resources on extra wives. In monogamous countries they invest that in the economy and grow the economy.
As someone with an economics background, I’m especially fascinated by this one. I;ve done some google searches to try and turn up any research on this, but not had much luck. If anyone can point me to contact details for the Peter Richardson who appeared on this show that would be great, as I’d like to actually track down a copy of this research.
Well, the research that we did suggests that polygamy generates several different kinds of conflicts. There’s a lot of plural marriage then many men get left out of the, many men at the lower end of the socio economic stratum of society don’t have a chance to get a wife at all and these are men, well unmarried men in general are trouble and men that have very low prospects for marriage are much more likely to engage in crime and to abuse drugs and to otherwise be a problem in society.
In the context of the societies he is referencing, I’m going to assume Richardson is correct about there being a pool of unhappy (single) young men causing problems.
But looking at his statement, the root cause of the social problems arguably isn’t plural marriage or having multiple lovers – its inequality. Relationship asymmetry, where only men are permitted multiple partners, creates an artificial scarcity that fuels the social ills being decried.
If there were relationship equality, where women could take multiple partners or husbands, wouldn’t this reduce the pool of unhappy young men? By Richardson’s logic, ceteris paribus, letting women have multiple partners should decrease the pool of unhappy young men, thereby reducing the social ills he describes.
Richardson’s example might be a valid argument against polygny, relationship inequality and patriachial forms of poly, but it should not be allowed to stand as an argument against more egalitarian forms of polyamory.
Another day, another sport star in the news for having an affair and cheating on their partner. Why is this news? Why is the media so concerned about the private lives of sports people? If we’re expecting sports people to be role models for much more than sport, than I’m inclined to think we’re placing too much emphasis and importance on sport in our society.
Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about Tumblr. But there are a few things contributing to the present slow down in writing.
I’ve been sick again. The EBV/mono might technically be gone, but I’m still tired and, it seems, susceptible to every common cold doing the rounds. By the time I get home from work I don’t really have much energy left for things that require thinking. This isn’t helped by the fact that most of the tablets I have picked up at the drug store have been making me even more drowsy.
Rainbow has been visiting for the weekend. Although my sickness meant we had to forego our planned photography outing, it was great to have her around for an extended weekend of cuddles and general hanging out with the Menow’s.
The things I am writing at the moment need more time than just the broken half hour I have on the train and subway. There are a couple of short story ideas kicking about in my head, the next couple of bits of ‘the Drive’ story, some poly related posts and some more reflective items. These all take time.
Then there are books to read. I’m splitting my time between two books at the moment. There is ‘Mockingjay’, which I would like to finish before my mom goes home so I can give her the full set to read. Then there is the interesting autobiography I am reading about a Christian minister and theology teacher and his journey from fundamentalism to a more…progressive…. form of Christianity.
Oh, I’m still playing Wargame:Escalation Europe. I have finally hit a mission which I need to replay in order to finish with enough units not succeed in the following mission.
Mrs Menow is going to be away for almost a week at a conference. This may give me more time to do my own thing of an evening, but we shall see.
My parents are coming for the weekend. Again, this will give me more time to do some activities, like sleeping or reading, but also takes time out of my evening that could have been spent on other activities.
Throw in attempting a full week at work with this lingering cold and it may lead to lower levels of Tumblr. Or just lots of photos and reblogs.
Or lots of rants depending on if something, like that polygamy tv show, gets me fired up.
Following on from my last post, I should add that the ‘creepy weird old guys’ isn’t a disparaging remark directed at Marc Glasby, who will be on the show. I’ll reserve any judgement until after the show. My point is though, that in choosing Marc (an older guy) and his unusual even for poly situation (dating his wife’s twin sister), there’s a higher risk of reinforcing existing perceptions of poly than if they’d profiled a younger poly woman with two boyfriends.
… though you can just about bet if they profiled someone younger, (e.g. under 25) they would be dismissed as naive and going through a phase.
Australian TV show ‘Insight’ is going to run an episode this week discussing polygamy.
Looking at the pre-show episode summary, I have a bad feeling this is simply going to reinforce existing prejudices and percpetions - that poly = polygamy and that it is all about ‘creepy weird old guys’ and religious types.
Hopefully the show will be made available online, because I’ll be interested to see whether they actually discuss polyamory, or just stick with polygamy.
I’m also concerned that people will take any concerns or criticisms raised by the physchologist/community worker they have chosen to include on the show, and assume these criticisms are applicable to poly generally, even though it appears she is dealing with one specific non-monogamous group - and probably one of the more controversial poly scenarios.
Australian model caught distracted during a photo shoot when the first plane hit tower 1. What an epic photo.
It’s so weird to think that normal things were happening on 9/11. People were walking their dogs, riding their bikes, models were doing photoshoots… and the planes hit.
September 11’ …it was before the current generation of social media like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. but for me, this was the first event where eyewitness accounts from the Internet were up there with mainstream media coverage in keeping me informed.
It’s one of those events where I think everyone remembers where they were when they heard. I was at home and was just watching a regular news update when they broke to the story of the aftermath of the first plane.
While the news anchor relayed the first accounts, they had a live feed of the towers, and then I watched in amazement as the second plane hit. The anchor said something about a “terrible accident”, but it seemed pretty obvious this was no accident.
I spent the next four or five hours with the tv on in the background, talking to people on IRC who were in New York and who were describing what they could see and what they were hearing from friends.
It was a dark day, and unfortunately I think it set in motion a series of events which have seen both our privacy and personal security eroded in the name of security.
Can’t wait for Thursday night. Rainbow is coming for an extended weekend visit. I hope we are all well enough to enjoy it. But if I am going to be sick, it might as well be in the company who care about me. And if Rainbow is still sick, at least I can take care of her for a change.
![[Soy] Hot Chocolate.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4oflrRccl1qe2ehto1_1280.jpg)
