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Monogamy ( ) is a social relation of two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or serial monogamy, contrasts with various forms of non-monogamy (e.g., polygamy or polyamory).
The term monogamy, derived from Greek language for "one marriage," has multiple context-dependent meanings—genetic, sexual, social, and marital—each varying in interpretation across cultures and disciplines, making its definition complex and often debated. The term is typically used to describe the behavioral ecology and sexual selection of animal mating systems, referring to the state of having only one Mating at any one given time. In a human cultural context, monogamy typically refers to the custom of two individuals, regardless of orientation, committing to a sexually exclusive relationship.
Monogamy in humans varies widely across cultures and definitions. While only a minority of societies are strictly monogamous, many practice serial monogamy or tolerate extramarital sex. Genetic monogamy is relatively unstudied and often contradicted by evidence of extrapair paternity. Monogamy in humans likely evolved through a combination of biological factors such as the need for paternal care and ecological pressures, alongside cultural developments like agriculture, property inheritance, and religious or societal norms promoting social stability.
Biologists distinguish between social, sexual, and genetic monogamy to reflect how animal pairings may involve cohabitation, sexual exclusivity, and reproductive fidelity in varying combinations, while serial monogamy describes successive exclusive relationships over time.
For instance, , biological anthropologists, and behavioral ecologists often use monogamy in the sense of sexual, if not genetic (reproductive), exclusivity.Low B.S. (2003) Ecological and social complexities in human monogamy . Monogamy: Mating Strategies and Partnerships in Birds, Humans and Other Mammals:161–176. When cultural or social and other social scientists use the term monogamy, the meaning is social or marital monogamy.
Marital monogamy may be further distinguished between:
Defining monogamy across cultures can be difficult because of different cultural assumptions. Some societies believe that monogamy requires limiting sexual activity to a single partner for life. Others accept or endorse pre-marital sex prior to marriage. Some societies consider sex outside of marriage (2025). 9780813024561, University Press of Florida. ISBN 9780813024561 or "spouse swapping" to be socially acceptable. Some consider a relationship monogamous even if partners separate and move to a new monogamous relationship through death, divorce, or simple dissolution of the relationship, regardless of the length of the relationship (serial monogamy). The need to accurately define monogamy was highlighted in a 2012 work, which defined practices as either formal or informal polyandry. The researchers found 53 communities studied between 1912 and 2010 that practiced polyandry (in which women have multiple male partners). This broader definition indicated that polyandry was more common worldwide than previously believed.
Terminology may also affect how data on polygamy is interpreted. While the genetic record indicates that genetic monogamy increased within the last 5,000-10,000 years, the form of prehistoric non-monogamy is less clear. A lack of genetic monogamy could be interpreted as polygamy despite other plausible explanations. Anthropological observations indicate that even when polygyny is accepted in the community, the majority of relationships in the society are monogamous in practice – while couples remain in the relationship, which may not be lifelong. Thus, in prehistoric communities and communities categorized as polygamous, short- or long-term serial monogamy may be the most common practice rather than a lifelong monogamous bond.
Divorce and remarriage can thus result in "serial monogamy", i.e. multiple marriages but only one legal spouse at a time. This can be interpreted as a form of plural mating, as are those societies dominated by female-headed families in the Caribbean, Mauritius and Brazil where there is frequent rotation of unmarried partners. In all, these account for 16 to 24% of the "monogamous" category.
Surveys conducted in non-Western nations (2001) also found cultural and gender differences in extramarital sex. A study of sexual behavior in Thailand, Tanzania and Côte d'Ivoire suggests about 16–34% of men engage in extramarital sex while a much smaller (unreported) percentage of women engage in extramarital sex. Studies in Nigeria have found around 47–53% of men and to 18–36% of women engage in extramarital sex. A 1999 survey of married and cohabiting couples in Zimbabwe reports that 38% of men and 13% of women engaged in extra-couple sexual relationships within the last 12 months.National AIDS Council, Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, The MEASURE Project, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC/Zimbabwe). AIDS in Africa During the Nineties: Zimbabwe. A review and analysis of survey and research results. Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2002.
Many surveys asking about extramarital sex in the United States have relied on convenience samples: surveys given to whoever happens to be easily available (e.g., volunteer college students or volunteer magazine readers). Convenience samples may not accurately reflect the population of the United States as a whole, which can cause serious biases in survey results. Sampling bias may, therefore, be why early surveys of extramarital sex in the United States have produced widely differing results: such early studies using convenience samples (1974, 1983, 1993) reported the wide ranges of 12–26% of married women and 15–43% of married men engaged in extramarital sex.Hunt, M. (1974). Sexual behavior in the 1970s. Chicago: Playboy Press.Blumstein, P., & Schwartz, P. (1983). American Couples: Money, Work, Sex. New York, NY: William Morrow and Company.Janus, S.S. & Janus, C.L. (1993). The Janus Report on Sexual Behavior . New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Three studies have used nationally representative samples. These studies in 1994 and 1997 found that about 10–15% of women and 20–25% of men engage in extramarital sex.Laumann, E. O., Gagnon, J. H., Michael, R. T, & Michaels, S. (1994). The social organization of sexuality: Sexual practices in the United States . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Research by Colleen Hoffon of 566 homosexual male couples from the San Francisco Bay Area (2010) found that 45% had monogamous relationships. However, the Human Rights Campaign has stated, based on a Rockway Institute report, that "LGBT" young people... want to spend their adult life in a long-term relationship raising children." Specifically, over 80% of the homosexuals surveyed expected to be in a monogamous relationship after age 30.
Covert illegitimacy is a situation which arises when someone who is presumed to be a child's father (or mother) is in fact not the biological father (or mother). Frequencies as high as 30% are sometimes assumed in the media, but research by sociologist Michael Gilding traced these overestimates back to an informal remark at a 1972 conference.Philipp EE (1973) "Discussion: moral, social and ethical issues". In: Wolstenholme GEW, Fitzsimons DW, eds. Law and ethics of AID and embryo transfer. Ciba Foundation symposium. Vol 17. London: Associated Scientific 63–66
The detection of unsuspected illegitimacy can occur in the context of medical genetic screening, in genetic family name research, and in immigration testing. Such studies show that covert illegitimacy is in fact less than 10% among the sampled African populations, less than 5% among the sampled Native American and Polynesians populations, less than 2% of the sampled Middle Eastern population, and generally 1–2% among European samples.
Pedigree errors are a well-known source of error in medical studies. When attempts are made to try to study medical afflictions and their genetic components, it becomes very important to understand non-paternity rates and pedigree errors. There are numerous software packages and procedures that exist for correcting research data for pedigree errors.
Paleoanthropology and genetic studies offer two perspectives on when monogamy evolved in the human species: paleoanthropologists offer tentative evidence that monogamy may have started very early in human history whereas genetic studies suggest that monogamy might have increased much more recently, less than 10,000 to 20,000 years ago.
Paleoanthropological estimates of the time frame for the evolution of monogamy are primarily based on the level of sexual dimorphism seen in the fossil record because, in general, the reduced male-male competition seen in monogamous mating results in reduced sexual dimorphism.Moller AP (2003) The evolution of monogamy: mating relationships, parental care and sexual selection. Monogamy: Mating Strategies and Partnerships in Birds, Humans and Other Mammals:29–41. According to Reno et al., the sexual dimorphism of Australopithecus afarensis, a human ancestor from approximately 3.9–3.0 million years ago,Ash P, Robinson D (2010) The emergence of humans: an exploration of the evolutionary timeline . Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, West Sussex, UK;Hoboken, NJ. was within the modern human range, based on dental and postcranial morphology. Although careful not to say that this indicates monogamous mating in early , the authors do say that reduced levels of sexual dimorphism in A. afarensis "do not imply that monogamy is any less probable than polygyny". However, Gordon, Green and Richmond claim that in examining postcranial remains, A. afarensis is more sexually dimorphic than modern and with levels closer to those of and . Furthermore, Homo habilis, living approximately 2.3 mya, is the most sexually dimorphic early hominid. Plavcan and van Schaik conclude their examination of this controversy by stating that, overall, sexual dimorphism in australopithecines is not indicative of any behavioral implications or mating systems.
Currently the oldest ethnic group in Africa, the continent where Homo sapiens species emerged, is the San people of Southern Africa. Most San are monogamous, but if a hunter is able to obtain enough food, he can afford to have a second wife as well. The monogamy practiced by this ethnic group is the serial monogamy.
Betzig postulated that culture/society can also be a source of social monogamy by enforcing it through rules and laws set by third-party actors, usually in order to protect the wealth or power of the elite. For example, Augustus Caesar encouraged marriage and reproduction to force the aristocracy to divide their wealth and power among multiple heirs, but the aristocrats kept their socially monogamous, legitimate children to a minimum to ensure their legacy while having many extra-pair copulations. Similarly—according to Betzig—the Christian Church enforced monogamy because wealth passed to the closest living, legitimate male relative, often resulting in the wealthy oldest brother being without a male heir. Thus, the wealth and power of the family would pass to the "celibate" younger brother of the church. In both of these instances, the rule-making elite used cultural processes to ensure greater reproductive fitness for themselves and their offspring, leading to a larger genetic influence in future generations. According to B. S. Low, culture would appear to have a much larger impact on monogamy in humans than the biological forces that are important for non-human animals.
Other theorists use cultural factors influencing reproductive success to explain monogamy. During times of major economic/demographic transitions, investing more in fewer offspring (social monogamy not polygyny) increases reproductive success by ensuring the offspring themselves have enough initial wealth to be successful. This is seen in both England and Sweden during the industrial revolution and is currently being seen in the modernization of rural Ethiopia. Similarly, in modern industrialized societies, fewer yet better-invested offspring, i.e. social monogamy, can provide a reproductive advantage over social polygyny, but this still allows for serial monogamy and extra-pair copulations.
Alexandra Kollontai in Make Way for the Winged Eros argues that monogamy is an artifact of capitalist concepts of property and inheritance and wrote, "The social aims of the working class are not affected one bit by whether love takes the form of a long and official union or is expressed in a temporary relationship. The ideology of the working class does not place any formal limits on love." Later, "Modern love always sins, because it absorbs the thoughts and feelings of 'loving hearts' and isolates the loving pair from the collective. In the future society, such a separation will not only become superfluous but also psychologically inconceivable." One of the tenets of the new proletarian morality is "mutual recognition of the rights of the other, of the fact that one does not own the heart and soul of the other (the sense of property, encouraged by bourgeois culture)."
Havelock Ellis advocates for monogamy in sexual relationships and considers it an expression closest to nature with a sufficient amount of mutuality.This belief is said to be the case because of the fact that "the sexes are always approximately equal" and that living organisms were designed around a sole partner, "while the needs of the emotional life, even apart from the needs of offspring, demand that such unions based on mutual attraction should be so far as possible permanent." The connection between a sexual partner, independent of the purpose of offspring, is prominently and stated to be akin to a necessity for the fulfillment of the "emotional life", and that this fulfillment can be reached in a monogamous relationship. Ellis acknowledges the existence of "variations" and considers it "inevitable oscillations around the norm", but excludes polygamy and discourages the practice of it. Monogamy as a whole being widely accepted in society is not seen as a notable accomplishment, and Ellis states that "the mere acceptance of a monogamic rule carries us but a little way".
More recent genetic data has clarified that, in most regions throughout history, a smaller proportion of men contributed to human genetic history compared to women. This could occur if male mortality outpaced female mortality. This cannot be assumed with the available evidence. If an equal number of men and women are born and survive to reproduce, however, this would indicate that historically, only a subset of men fathered children and did so with multiple women (and may suggest that many men either did not procreate or did not have children that survived to create modern ancestors). This circumstance could occur for several reasons, but there are three common interpretations:
The serial monogamy interpretation of genetic history would be congruent with other findings, such as the fact that humans form pair bonds (although not necessarily for life) and that human fathers invest in at least the early upbringing of their children. Serial monogamy would also be consistent with the existence of a "honeymoon period", a period of intense interest in a single sexual partner (with less interest in other women) which may help to keep men invested in staying with the mother of their child for this period. When reciprocated, this "honeymoon period" lasts 18 months to three years in most cases. This would correspond to the period necessary to bring a child to relative independence in the traditionally small, interdependent, communal societies of pre-Neolithic humans, before they settled into more separate agricultural communities.
While genetic evidence typically displays a bias towards a smaller number of men reproducing with more women, some regions or time periods have shown the opposite. In a 2019 investigation, Musharoff et al. applied modern techniques to the 1000 Genomes Project Phase 3 high-coverage Complete Genomics whole-genome dataset. They found that the Southern Han Chinese had a male bias (45% female, indicating that women were likely to reproduce with multiple men). This region is known for its lack of a concept of paternity and for a sense of female equality or superiority. The Musharoff study also found a male bias in Europeans (20% female) during an out-of-Africa migration event that may have increased the number of men successfully reproducing with women, perhaps by replenishing the genetic pool in Europe. The study did confirm a more typical female bias in Yorubans (63% female), Europeans (84%), Punjabis (82%), and Peruvians (56%).
According to other studies, coupling began or evolved gradually towards monogamy since millions of years ago.
Anthropologists characterize human beings as "mildly polygynous" or "monogamous with polygynous tendencies." This slight inclination towards polygamy is reinforced by the low rate of polygamy even in polygamist societies; less than five percent of men marry more than one woman in approximately half of polygynous societies. This slight inclination towards men reproducing with a small number of women is also seen in genetic evidence. Depending on the period of history, the average man with modern descendents appears to have had children with between 1.5 women (70,000 years ago) to 3.3 women (45,000 years ago), except in East Asia. This rate varied dramatically by era, possibly due to male mortality, environmental conditions, food availability, and other influences on mortality, and migration patterns. These rates may be consistent with a society that practices serial monogamy. However, there was a temporary but sharp decrease in the ratio during the start of the Neolithic resolution, where the average man with modern descendants had children with 17 women (circa 8,000 years ago). Given the dramatic cultural shifts towards sedentary agriculture at the time, this is speculated to represent a dramatic change from a community-based society towards the hoarding of power and resources more consistent with a harem model; however, the rapid movement back towards 4.5 women per man after this dip, accompanied by evidence for the move towards monogamy as the agricultural revolution progressed, may suggest a dramatic, unknown factor such as catastrophic male mortality. Some researchers have postulated alternative explanations for the reduction in male effective population size, such as the extinction of male lineages through warfare. In patrilineal clan-based societies, entire male bloodlines could be eradicated by a conquering tribe, while women were often absorbed into the victorious group. Women also traditionally joined their husband's family upon marriage, and this gene flow would have increased the likelihood of their lineages surviving. Another study proposed a more peaceful explanation involving variance in reproductive success among patrilineal groups combined with the gradual splitting of groups over time. These mechanisms could have led to a drastic reduction in male genetic diversity over time without requiring equivalently drastic reproductive ratios between the sexes.
In the patriarchal society of Mesopotamia the nuclear family was called a "house". In order "to build a house" a man was supposed to marry one woman and if she did not provide him with offspring, he could take a second wife. The Code of Hammurabi states that he loses his right to do so if the wife herself gives him a slave as Concubinage.Cf. R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel. Its Life and Institutions, London 1980 (5th impr.), p. 24 According to Assyria texts, he could be obliged to wait for two or three years before he was allowed to take another wife. The position of the second wife was that of a "slave girl" in respect to the first wife, as many marriage contracts explicitly state.M. Stol: Private Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, in: Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. J. M. Sasson (ed.), J. Baines, G. Beckman, K. S. Rubinson (assist. ed.). Vol. 1. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1995, pp. 488–493. ; Cf. Martha T. Roth, Age at Marriage and the Household: A Study of the Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian Forms , "Comparative Studies in Society and History" 29 (1987), and Babylonian Marriage Agreements 7th–3rd Centuries BC (1989).
Under Biblical judges and the monarchy, old restrictions went into disuse, especially among royalty, though the Books of Samuel and Kings, which cover entire period of monarchy, record only one instance of commoner polygamy - that of Samuel's father. The wisdom e.g. Book of Wisdom, which provides a picture of the society, Sirach, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes portray a woman in a strictly monogamous family (cf. Pr 5:15-19; Qo 9:9; Si 26:1-4 and eulogy of perfect wife, Proverbs 31:10-31). The Book of Tobias speaks solely of monogamous marriages. Also prophets have in front of their eyes monogamous marriage as an image of the relationship of God and Israel. (Cf. Ho 2:4f; Jer 2:2; Is 50:1; 54:6-7; 62:4-5; Ez 16). Roland de Vaux states that "it is clear that the most common form of marriage in Israel was monogamy".
The Mishnah and the baraitot clearly reflect a monogamist viewpoint within Judaism (Nashim 2:10 etc.). Some sages condemned marriage to two wives even for the purpose of procreation (Ketubot 62b). R. Ammi, an amora states:
Whoever takes a second wife in addition to his first one shall divorce the first and pay her kettubah (Yevamot 65a)
Roman Empire customs, which prohibited polygamy, may have enhanced such an attitude - especially after 212 AD, when all the Jews became Roman citizens. However, some Jews continued to practice bigamy (e.g. up to medieval times in Egypt and Europe). Fourth-century Roman law forbade Jews to contract plural marriages.
A synod convened by Gershom ben Judah around 1000 CE banned polygamy among Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews.Walter Scheidel, Monogamy and polygyny in Greece, Rome, and world history , Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics, June 2008
The women's rights movements seek to make monogamy the only legal form of marriage. The United Nations General Assembly in 1979 adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Article 16 of which requires nations to give women and men equal rights in marriage. Polygamy is viewed as inconsistent with the Article as it gives men the right of multiple wives, but not to women. The United Nations has established the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to monitor the progress of nations implementing the convention.
The monogamous family is distinguished from the pairing family by the far greater durability of wedlock, which can no longer be dissolved at the pleasure of either party. As a rule, it is only the man who can still dissolve it and cast off his wife.
However, the communist revolutionaries in China chose to take the Western viewpoint of monogamy as giving women and men equal rights in marriage. The newly formed Communist government established monogamy as the only legal form of marriage.
While the protocol does not suggest making polygamous marriage illegal, Article 6 does state that "monogamy is encouraged as the preferred form of marriage and that the rights of women in marriage and family, including in polygamous marital relationships are promoted and protected."Amnesty International, 2006. The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa: Strengthening the promotion and protection of women's human rights in Africa. Retrieved May 29, 2006 from .University of Minnesota Human Rights Library, 2006. Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. Retrieved May 29, 2006 from . The protocol entered into force on 25 November 2005.
Monogamous pairs of animals are not always sexually exclusive. Many animals that form pairs to mate and raise offspring regularly engage in sexual activities with partners other than their primary mate. This is called extra-pair copulation.
Whatever makes a pair of animals socially monogamous does not necessarily make them sexually or genetically monogamous. Social monogamy, sexual monogamy, and genetic monogamy can occur in different combinations.
Social monogamy does not always involve marriage in humans. A married couple is almost always a socially monogamous couple. But couples who choose to cohabitation without getting married can also be socially monogamous. The popular science author Matt Ridley in his book The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, described the human mating system as "monogamy plagued by adultery".
Serial monogamy may effectively resemble polygyny in its reproductive consequences because both men and women are able to utilize both sexes reproductive lifespan through repeated marriages.
Serial monogamy may also refer to sequential sexual relationships, irrespective of marital status. A pair of humans may remain sexually exclusive, or monogamous, until the relationship has ended and then each may go on to form a new exclusive pairing with a different partner. This pattern of serial monogamy is common among people in Western cultures.
Social monogamy refers to the overtly observed living arrangement whereby a male and female share territory and engage in behaviour indicative of a social pair, but does not imply any particular sexual fidelity or reproductive pattern. The extent to which social monogamy is observed in animals varies across taxa, with over 90 percent of avian species being socially monogamous, compared to only 3 percent of mammalian species and up to 15 percent of primate species.Barash, D.P. & Lipton, J.E. (2001). The Myth of Monogamy. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman and Company. Social monogamy has also been observed in reptiles, fish, and insects.
Sexual monogamy is defined as an exclusive sexual relationship between a female and a male based on observations of sexual interactions. However, scientific analyses can test for paternity, for example by DNA paternity testing or by fluorescence pigment powder tracing of females to track physical contact. This type of analysis can uncover reproductively successful sexual pairings or physical contact. Genetic monogamy refers to DNA analyses confirming that a female-male pair reproduce exclusively with each other.
The incidence of sexual monogamy appears quite rare in other parts of the animal kingdom. It is becoming clear that even animals that are overtly socially monogamous engage in extra-pair copulations. For example, while over 90% of birds are socially monogamous, "on average, 30% or more of the baby birds in any nest are sired by someone other than the resident male."Angier, Natalie (1990-08-21). " Mating for Life? It's Not for the Birds of the Bees " ("of" rather than "or" is how it shows in the article !). The New York Times. Patricia Adair Gowaty has estimated that, out of 180 different species of socially monogamous songbirds, only 10% are sexually monogamous. Offspring are far more successful when both the male and the female members of the social pair contribute food resources.
The highest known frequency of reproductively successful extra-pair copulations are found among fairywrens Malurus splendens and Malurus cyaneus where more than 65% of chicks are fathered by males outside the supposed breeding pair. This discordantly low level of genetic monogamy has been a surprise to biologists and zoologists, as social monogamy can no longer be assumed to determine how genes are distributed in a species.
Elacatinus, also widely known as neon gobies, also exhibit social monogamy. Hetereosexual pairs of fish belonging to the genus Elacatinus remain closely associated during both reproductive and non-reproductive periods, and often reside in same cleaning station to serve client fish. Fish of this genus frequently mate with a new partner after they are widowed.
The low occurrence of social monogamy in placental mammals has been claimed to be related to the presence or absence of estrus—or oestrus—the duration of sexual receptivity of a female. This, however, does not explain why estrus females generally mate with any proximate male nor any correlation between sexual and social monogamy. Birds, which are notable for a high incidence of social monogamy, do not have estrus.
The behaviour is influenced by the number of repetitions of a particular string of microsatellite DNA. Male prairie voles with the longest DNA strings spend more time with their mates and pups than male prairie voles with shorter strings. Summarized in However, other scientists have disputed the gene's relationship to monogamy, and cast doubt on whether the human version plays an analogous role. Physiologically, pair-bonding behavior has been shown to be connected to vasopressin, dopamine, and oxytocin levels, with the genetic influence apparently arising via the number of receptors for these substances in the brain; the pair-bonding behavior has also been shown in experiments to be strongly modifiable by administering some of these substances directly.
The North American microtine rodent's (vole) complex social structure and social behavior has provided unique opportunities to study the underlying neural bases for monogamy and social attachment. Data from studies using the Microtus ochrogaster or prairie vole indicate that the neuroendocrine hormones, oxytocin (in female prairie voles) and vasopressin (in male prairie voles) play a central role in the development of affiliative connections during mating. The effects of intracerebroventricular administration of oxytocin and vasopressin have been shown to promote affiliative behavior in the prairie vole but not in similar, but non-monogamous montane voles. This difference in neuropeptide effect is attributed to the location, density, and distribution of OT and AVP receptors. Only in the prairie voles are OT and AVP receptors located along the mesolimbic dopamine reward pathway, presumably conditioning the voles to their mates odor while consolidating the social memory of the mating episode. This finding highlights the role of genetic evolution in altering the neuroanatomical distribution of receptors, resulting in certain neural circuits becoming sensitive to changes in .
Ancient Greece and ancient Rome
The ancient Greeks and Romans were monogamous in the sense that men were not allowed to have more than one wife or to cohabit with concubines during marriage.Scheidel W. 2009. A peculiar institution? Greco-Roman monogamy in global context. History Family14, 280–291 (doi:10.1016/j.hisfam.2009.06.001)10.1016/j.hisfam.2009.06.001
Early Christianity
As John Paul II interpreted the dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees (Gospel of Matthew 19:3–8), Christ emphasized the primordial beauty of monogamic spousal love described in the Book of Genesis 1:26–31, 2:4–25, whereby a man and woman by their nature are each ready to be a beautifying, total and gift to one another:
Jesus avoids entangling himself in juridical or casuistic controversies; instead, he appeals twice to the "beginning". By doing so, he clearly refers to the relevant words of Genesis, which his interlocutors also know by heart. ... it clearly leads the interlocutors to reflect about the way in which, in the mystery of creation, man was formed precisely as "male and female," in order to understand correctly the normative meaning of the words of Genesis.
Contemporary societies
International
Western European societies established monogamy as their marital norm.MacDonald K. The establishment and maintenance of socially imposed monogamy in Western Europe . Politics Life Sci. 1995. 14, 3–23 Monogamous marriage is normative and is legally enforced in most developed countries. Laws prohibiting polygyny were adopted in Japan (1880), China (1953), India (1955) and Nepal (1963). Polyandry is illegal in most countries.
People's Republic of China
The founders of Communism determined that monogamous marriage inherently oppressed women and therefore had no place in communist society. Friedrich Engels stated that compulsory monogamy could only lead to increased prostitution and general immorality, with the benefits of restricting capital and solidifying the class structure. As he spelled out in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884),
The first class antagonism which appears in history coincides with the development of the antagonism between man and woman in monogamian marriage, and the first class oppression with that of the female sex by the male. ... The wellbeing and development of the one group are attained by the misery and repression of the other.
"The 1950 Marriage Law called for sweeping changes in many areas of family life. It forbade any 'arbitrary and compulsory' form of marriage that would be based on the superiority of men and would ignore women's interests. The new democratic marriage system was based on the free choice of couples, monogamy, equal rights for both sexes, and the protection of the lawful interests of women. It abolished the begetting of male offspring as the principal purpose of marriage and weakened kinship ties which reduced the pressure on women to bear many children, especially sons. With arranged marriages prohibited, young women could choose their own marriage partners, share the financial cost of setting up a new household, and have equal status in household and family decision-making. The Government then initiated an extensive campaign of marriage-law education, working jointly with the Communist Party, women's federations, trade unions, the armed forces, schools and other organizations."Cheng, C. (1991). A speculative analysis of socio-economic influences on the fertility transition in China . Asia-Pacific Population Journal, 6, 3-24.
Varieties in biology
Recent discoveries have led biologists to talk about the three varieties of monogamy: social monogamy, sexual monogamy, and genetic monogamy. The distinction between these three are important to the modern understanding of monogamy.
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Serial monogamy
Serial monogamy is a mating practice in which individuals may engage in sequential monogamous pairings,Wright R (1994) The moral animal: the new science of evolutionary psychology. Pantheon Books, New York. or in terms of humans, when men or women can marry another partner but only after ceasing to be married to the previous partner.
Reproductive success
Evolutionary theory predicts that males would be apt to seek more mating partners than females because they obtain higher reproductive benefits from such a strategy. Men with more serial marriages are likely to have more children than men with only one spouse, whereas the same is not true of women with consecutive spouses. A study done in 1994 found that remarried men often had a larger age difference from their spouses than men who were married for the first time, suggesting that serial monogamy helps some men extract a longer reproductive window from their spouses.
Breakup
Serial monogamy has always been closely linked to divorce practices. Whenever procedures for obtaining divorce have been simple and easy, serial monogamy has been found.It is said to have been "rife" in ancient Rome Alternative Forms of Marriage Serial Monogamy at Trivia-Library.com. As divorce has continued to become more accessible, more individuals have availed themselves of it, and many go on to remarry.In Canada, 46% of divorcées will remarry according to Till death do us part? The risk of first and second marriage dissolution by Warren Clark and Susan Crompton. Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, further suggests that Western culture's inundation of choice has devalued relationships based on lifetime commitments and singularity of choice. It has been suggested, however, that high mortality rates in centuries past accomplished much the same result as divorce, enabling remarriage (of one spouse) and thus serial monogamy.Timothy J. Owston, Divorce. 2nd edition, April 2006
Similarity with polygamy
According to Danish scholar Miriam K. Zeitzen, anthropologists treat serial monogamy, in which divorce and remarriage occur, as a form of polygamy as it also can establish a series of households that may continue to be tied by shared paternity and shared income. As such, they are similar to the household formations created through divorce and serial monogamy.
For a popular press angle, see e.g. Rosie Wilby, Is Monogamy Dead?: Rethinking Relationships in the 21st Century (Cardiff: Accent Press, 2017), 107. . For deeper, scholarly analysis, see e.g. David Silverman, "The Construction of 'Delicate' Objects in Counselling", in ed. Margaret Wetherell et al., Discourse Theory and Practice: A Reader (London: Sage, 2001), 123–27.
Mating system
Monogamy is one of several observed in animals. However, a pair of animals may be socially monogamous without necessarily being sexually or genetically monogamous. Social monogamy, sexual monogamy, and genetic monogamy can occur in different combinations.
Evolution in animals
Socially monogamous species are scattered throughout the animal kingdom: A few insects, a few fish, about nine-tenths of birds, and a few mammals are socially monogamous. There is even a parasitic worm, Schistosoma mansoni, that in its female-male pairings in the human body is monogamous. The diversity of species with social monogamy suggests that it is not inherited from a common ancestor but instead evolved independently in many different species.
Genetic and neuroendocrine bases
The prairie vole is an animal example for its monogamous social behaviour, since the male is usually socially faithful to the female, and shares in the raising of pups. The woodland vole is also usually monogamous. Another species from the same genus, the meadow vole, has promiscuously mating males, and scientists have changed adult male meadow voles' behaviour to resemble that of prairie voles in experiments in which a single gene was introduced into the brain by a virus. Referenced in
See also
Bibliography
(1995). 9780684197203, Simon & Schuster Macmillan. ISBN 9780684197203
(1995). 9780684197203, Simon & Schuster Macmillan. ISBN 9780684197203.
Further reading
External links
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