I’m very surprised by this. There are number of anthropological findings which connect monogamous norms to greater gender equality and other positive social outcomes. Recently arguments along these lines have been advanced by Joseph Henrich, one of the most prominent evolutionary biologists.
Isn’t the research on this almost all comparing monogamy to polygyny? But polyamory, especially as practiced among EAs and adjacent groups doesn’t seem very similar to polygyny to me?
I certainly don’t think it’s conclusive, or even strong evidence. As I said, I think it’s one thing among many that should inform our priors here. There’s also a different vein of anthropological research that looks at non-monogamy and abuse in cults and other religious contexts, but I’m less familiar with it.
The alternative—accepting norms of sexual minorities without scrutiny—seems perfectly reasonable in many cases, but because of those reasons I don’t think it should be abided by here, especially in light of these women’s accounts.
I emphasize there shouldn’t be any hostility or intolerance to polyamorous people, just the way polyamorous norms might create the potential for abuse in EA spaces (or generally in high trust, insular environments).
In suppressing intrasexual competition and reducing the size of the pool of unmarried men, normative monogamy reduces crime rates, including rape, murder, assault, robbery and fraud, as well as decreasing personal abuses. By assuaging the competition for younger brides, normative monogamy decreases (i) the spousal age gap, (ii) fertility, and (iii) gender inequality. By shifting male efforts from seeking wives to paternal investment, normative monogamy increases savings, child investment and economic productivity. By increasing the relatedness within households, normative monogamy reduces intra-household conflict, leading to lower rates of child neglect, abuse, accidental death and homicide.
This doesn’t seem very relevant to the kind of issues discussed in the Time article, though?
I’m very surprised by this. There are number of anthropological findings which connect monogamous norms to greater gender equality and other positive social outcomes. Recently arguments along these lines have been advanced by Joseph Henrich, one of the most prominent evolutionary biologists.
Isn’t the research on this almost all comparing monogamy to polygyny? But polyamory, especially as practiced among EAs and adjacent groups doesn’t seem very similar to polygyny to me?
I certainly don’t think it’s conclusive, or even strong evidence. As I said, I think it’s one thing among many that should inform our priors here. There’s also a different vein of anthropological research that looks at non-monogamy and abuse in cults and other religious contexts, but I’m less familiar with it.
The alternative—accepting norms of sexual minorities without scrutiny—seems perfectly reasonable in many cases, but because of those reasons I don’t think it should be abided by here, especially in light of these women’s accounts.
I emphasize there shouldn’t be any hostility or intolerance to polyamorous people, just the way polyamorous norms might create the potential for abuse in EA spaces (or generally in high trust, insular environments).
What’s the mechanism whereby it leads to greater gender equality?
The article burner linked has:
This doesn’t seem very relevant to the kind of issues discussed in the Time article, though?