[EvilEvilKitten]

In theory ok but in reality, it isn't very pretty.

Too often, the government picks up the tab for all of those kids and non-working mothers. PolyGYNY is one paycheck supporting how many???? Most of girls who participate begin marrying at age 14 and they stop school because they're running a home and having kids. Undereducated females are not terribly employable - not in legit businesses anyway.

Now polyANDRY is much more economically feasible - all of those lovely paychecks supporting one woman and fewer kids! But the fragile male ego rears its ugly head. I refer you to Tibet. Too often people just assume polygamy is just one man and several women.

The main problem is the development, or lack thereof, of self-esteem. Of being an individual. Of being the most important person to another person. Please remember that polygamy is NOT the same as polyamory. If you will recall the Middle East where men are permitted to have 4 wives....well, you can see the effects. There a wife can be tossed out on her ear, stripped of her kids, and deprived of making a decent honest living at a word from her 'loving husband'. Why? Because where you can have many wives, each wife is worth less, esp if you can 'trade her out' at little cost to yourself. Polygamy usually becomes nothing more than a male ego trip. Penis waving inter-male competition.

In theory, polygamy is ok but in REALITY??? No.

I strongly urge you to read the book: Evaluating the Effects of Polygamy on Women and Children in Four North American Mormon Fundamentalist Groups: An Anthropological Study by Janet Bennion.