Jim W.

Polygamy Now!

In response to the article by Elizabeth Joseph, I agree that polygamy for some people has worked out for the best. Although I sympathize with the argument Joseph makes, I prefer a monogamous lifestyle.

In our society both parents generally have to work to afford a house and all the incidentals that go along with it. Housing is only one of the bills accrued by a typical family of the 90's. Day care is another major expense of families. Yet despite all the hardships of trying to have a family and work or tying to further your education many people seem to manage. Not only do they manage but a large portion of them manage with only one parent. How can you expect 3 or 4 or more people to all get along within an intimate relationship when traditional marriages more times than not end in divorce?

I'm not particularly religious and I realize that marriage is deeply rooted within religion, but in spite of this I don't believe that I could share as close of a relationship with someone knowing that they were not exclusively committed to me.

I concede that monogamy is simply not possible for all people in some remote areas, maybe there are just not enough males for every female. I found some proof of this from a site on the Internet, "http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Hezekiah/polystat.htm".

· 32 per cent of 22.31 million men are without partner (i.e. 7,139,200 approx)

· 39 percent of 23.84 million women are without a partner ( i.e. 9,297,600 approx)

· Giving a surplus of 2,158,400 women, or 9.05 per cent of the female population above marriageable age and 23.2 per cent of women who are old enough to have a partner but do not in fact have one.

So this seems to illustrate the fact that monogamy is not possible for all people. And although everyone finding a single mate seems to be impossible, its apparent that an innumerable portion of to today's society would not agree with the notion of polygamy and has underscored this by making it illegal.