The Pros And Cons Of Monogamy, Polygyny And Arranged Marriages?

In this essay we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both men and women who practice monogamy, polygyny, and polyandry and arranged marriages versus individual choices. In society there are many forms of marriages through different cultures. Some of these forms of marriages are monogamy, polygyny, and polyandry, arranged marriages and individual choice marriages. Though each form of marriage has its advantages and disadvantages, these particular forms of marriages let families form and function within the predesigned rules and laws of their society for such obligations as sex, labor, property, child-rearing, exchange and cultural status. The first type of marriage we will discuss is monogamy. Monogamy is defined as, “marriage in which both partners have just one spouse”. Monogamy marriage is the most practiced form of marriage across the world, and it is the only legally allowed form of marriage in the United States and Europe. The advantages to monogamy in the United States are …show more content…
Polygamy is defined as, “one individual having multiple spouses at the same time”. Polygyny is when a man to more than one woman and polyandry is when a woman is married to more than one man. Polygyny is the most favored of the many forms of marriage existing in about 85 percent of the world’s cultures. Polygyny advantages are based upon cultivation, farming and gathering. These are tasks customarily performed by women, so having more than one wife in a family will make these types of tasks easier bringing in more income for the family as well as providing more caregivers for the husbands children. Nonetheless, having numerous wives requires that the husband has sufficient wealthy to afford all the wives and their children. In modern times, this has reduced the overall number of polygyny marriages, elevating the status of those that can afford it in their