While male desire has certainly played a role in some polygamous arrangements, the institution has actually emerged from a variety of social, economic, and cultural factors across different societies.
Some of the broader contexts that have shaped polygamous practices include:
Economic factors – In agricultural societies, larger families often meant more labor and economic security. Multiple wives could mean more children and stronger family economic units.
Demographics – In societies with high male mortality from warfare or dangerous occupations, polygamy sometimes developed as a way to ensure women had economic protection and children had fathers.
Social status – Polygamy often became a marker of wealth and status, since supporting multiple families required significant resources.
Inheritance and lineage – Some cultures used polygamous marriages to strengthen alliances between families or clans, or to ensure male heirs.
Religious and cultural traditions – Various religious and cultural systems incorporated polygamy into their social structures for different theological or traditional reasons.
That said, you’re right that in many cases, particularly in more patriarchal societies, polygamy has been structured primarily around male preferences and desires, often with limited consideration for women’s autonomy or choices. The power dynamics in many polygamous arrangements have historically favored men significantly.
Modern discussions about polygamy often focus on issues of consent, equality, and women’s rights – whether such arrangements can truly be equitable given historical and ongoing power imbalances.
Polygamy an institution that was invented for the insatiable desire of some men. Polygamy births mostly everlasting Pretence and Eye Service. Polygamy is a harbinger of Hatred, Jealousy, Envy , etc .
Polygamy has outlived its usefulness, this was common during the agrarian period, because they wanted more hands on the farm.
Divorce or Separate if the Marriage or Union has outlived its usefulness instead of subjecting women to be treated like animals by being in a Harem. That is inhumane and disrespectful to the female Gender.
Those who have that kind of addiction find an outlet, instead of marrying everything with a skirt and then abandoning them with children that they can’t take care off, who in turn sometimes constitute a Nuisance to Society and other innocent Citizens.
Most products of Polygamous homes are destitute and they are a torn in the flesh of other relatives that kept themselves in control when it came to sexuality, they have an air of Entitlement sometimes and distract other parents from focusing on themselves and their children.
Finances are depleted because of too much sharing and children are lacking because of Extended family’s lack of discipline and control, a word was Coined by someone and the person called this inconvenience ” BLACK TAX “, it has continued to even deprive children born abroad of the affections and Resources of Parents abroad .
Most Parents abroad don’t attend Patents Teachers Association meetings or Activities of their children because they are doing or working too many Hours to fund the Lifestyles of people in Nigeria and other Parts of Africa at the detriment of their own children.
I see so many adults and Teenagers on TikTok, YouTube, etc , complaining of how their African or Nigerian parents Neglected them because of Relatives back home in different parts of Africa and Nigeria in particular.
Polygamy is actually the main Culprit in this dispensation.
POLYGAMY is a CANCER in Nigeria and other parts of Africa that has continued to affect the Fabric of that Continent .
The Negative Consequence of this Social Malaise is multifaceted.
So I would like to stop here for the sake of brevity, taken into consideration that most members of my audience dislike a long piece for one reason or the other.
