"Any system that produces a surplus of single men is likely to be unstable" The Economist explains How Polygamy and Hypergamy creates an unstable nation

Aaod · 2016-02-01T03:57:39+00:00

Rich old men have multiple spouses; poor young men are left single, sex-starved and without a stable family life.

Anyone remember the articles about female sex tourist portrayed in a neutral or positive light? They were not described as sex starved but affection starved or attention starved instead. From the sounds of it these people want a partnership which is one of the stepping stones to a proper adult life as well as the identity that comes with it.

garglemesh42 · 2016-01-31T21:35:08+00:00

The Mormon church banned polygamy in 1890 but some breakaway enclaves still practise it. They solve the problem of surplus males by expelling teenage boys from their isolated communities for minor infractions. In southern Utah your correspondent met Kevin (he would not give his surname), who was thrown out of such a sect at 17 for playing video games. He said it was odd how the elders almost never expelled girls.

Yes, how incredibly odd. I wonder why they would do that?

skee_ · 2016-01-31T22:25:10+00:00

Young, single, idle males are dangerous. Work and wedlock can tame them

Fuck right off. I'm not a wild animal or a slave who needs "taming" and I ain't going back to the plantation. Men need incentives, not more whipping. We've had enough of that.

cranktheguy · 2016-01-31T21:40:58+00:00

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YetAnotherCommenter · 2016-02-01T14:21:59+00:00

Any system that produces a surplus of single men is likely to be unstable. Polygamous societies suffer “higher rates of murder, theft, rape, social disruption, kidnapping (especially of females), sexual slavery and prostitution,”

Let's presume the article is correct - poverty can drive men to go to desperate and violent extremes (this strikes me as plausible - I think women may be similarly motivated also but they have the ability to marry and be taken care of so perhaps they're less likely to suffer similar impoverishment to males).

But the quote is facially wrongheaded. Prostitution was how the ancient world generally dealt with a surplus of single men. In ancient Mesopotamia, religious prostitution existed and I think this is true of pagan Europe as well. Prostitution alone is not a problem.

In addition, we can't presume that wives/reproduction are the only motivating factor a man has (if this were true, gay men would have no incentives to care about anything at all... but reality has shown gay men are a very productive demographic). The article primarily focuses on the struggle to escape poverty. Material self-interest matters and isn't necessarily just about breeding.

In addition, Boko Haram and the like are hardly good at delivering sexual liberation even to men - fundamentalist Islam (and religion in general) greatly restricts male sexual behaviour as well as female sexual behaviour.

Young, single men alone are not dangerous. Young, single men with no hope for future economic prospects are the real issue here (women, due to the expectation of spousal support within marriage, always have an extra option that men do not have). Has Boko Haram gotten any less violent now that they're taking sex slaves? Of course not.

Sexual deprivation indeed can cause a lot of frustration which can be released in other ways (sometimes negative ones). The cure for this is not mandatory monogamy but rather prostitution, pornography, sex toys, lessening stigmas on male/male sex, and (when technology advances) sexbots. Forcing women into marriages with men they don't find attractive isn't going to satisfy either the male or the female - look at Elliot Rodger's manifesto... he said the most haunting and offensive thing he was ever told was "no girl will ever want to fuck you." Rodger, like men in general I believe, desired to be desired. He wanted to be wanted. A woman who marries you out of duty doesn't want you.

But really, the idea men need to be 'tamed' through family and work is very offensive to me. I support the comment made by /u/skee_ on this.

TheRedThrowAwayPill · 2016-02-01T07:25:59+00:00

Polygamy? How? That's nonsense - you always have % surplus marriageable women in society at all times. Men die for all kinds of stupid shit reasons making that possible.

Sorry, you also can't look to Muslim lands as there are a ton of eligible girls who can't be married because everyone is poor.

Wait .... what's that? Everyone's poor? Including bachelors who can't afford to start families, you say? That sounds like a lot of pent up frustration.. which sounds like it would be ... unstable.

Nice try economist. I've heard this one before.

How about this one : feminism makes a nation unstable. Why? Because it produces far more young eligible bachelors who can't start families for one reason or the other. (You just have to give it a few more generations)

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