If one ever needed a good argument for the practice of polygamy, then it seems researchers have found one. The University of Sheffield has found that men in polygamous cultures live 12% longer than those from non-polygamous cultures. The research has been published in the New Scientist magazine and is based on a survey of older men from 140 polygamous cultures and those from 49 monogamous cultures. The findings do not get into much debate about the "why", but rather leaves it open to possible social and genetic factors.
The findings were presented in a recent conference in New York.
(Photo from here)
2 comments:
About 78% of human societies are polygynous, in which some men marry more than one wife. Only 22% of societies are strictly monogamous. Almost no modern societies are polyandrous, in which one woman marries several husbands (although such societies have existed historically in the Canary Islands, the Himalayas, the Canadian Arctic, and possibly other places). Only 3% of mammal species in general are monogamous, although at least 15% of primate species are.
In historical terms, it is monogamy that is in need of explanation, not polygamy.
— Janet Bennion, Women of Principle (1998)
Paul...
Thanks for dropping by and commenting.
I have not read the book. I do not know whether I can get it here in Indonesia but I will have a look for it.
Once again, thanks.
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