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moms rule (mander.xyz)

submitted 17 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 13 hours ago (6 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] 6 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (5 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 12 hours ago (4 children)

Polygyny is where one man has many wives.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours 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 3 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] 1 points 1 hour 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 1 hour ago

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

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