‘Woke’ Polygamy is Coming Soon – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

American women are giving up on marriage, argues a recent essay in the Wall Street Journal. As women earn more college degrees than men, achieve career success, and enjoy their independence, men who meet their high expectations are in short supply.

Nearly half (45 percent) of unpartnered, college-educated women blame their singlehood on an inability to find someone who measures up, compared to just one-third of single, college-educated men who say the same.

Women are competing over a narrowing pool of eligible bachelors, but there simply aren’t enough top-tier men to go around — at least not in a monogamous society. Despite more Americans cohabiting and fewer tying the knot, most young women still wish to get married someday. But Joe Sixpack is no longer Mr. Right.

Because of the dearth of viable men and Americans’ increasingly progressive beliefs about marriage and sexuality, polygamy may soon become a legally sanctioned and socially acceptable practice — a “solution” to the current mating crisis. The judicial precedent was set 10 years ago with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, which is already being stretched to justify families consisting of more than two parents.

A “woke” and cosmopolitan polygamy could become the latest female empowerment fad, with “you go girl” headlines encouraging women to share the man of their dreams with other strong, independent women who know their “worth” and refuse to “settle.” It would also accommodate the many complex and atypical relationship preferences of some LGBTQ+ individuals. (RELATED: Why are Liberal Women so Unhappy?)

With romantic sensibilities and fantasies molded by Disney and Jane Austen, one might assume that Western women would react with disgust, horror, or “the ick” to the prospect of polygamy. But in an evolutionary psychology experiment at the University of British Columbia, 70 percent of female students preferred to be the second wife of a married billionaire than the exclusive wife of an average, working-class man. Only 10 percent of men shared this preference if the situation were reversed.

As the Roman poet Horace said, “You can drive out Nature with a pitchfork, but she keeps on coming back.”

Due to women’s physical and sexual vulnerability, they are far more discerning than men in their mate selection — and are often most attracted to men who signal a unique ability to provide resources and protection.

Analyses of human DNA have showcased that humans have twice as many female as male ancestors, which researchers attribute to polygynous mating practices throughout history. High-status men were deemed more suitable partners and often passed along their genes to multiple women each, while less successful men never reproduced.

The female tendency to mate up socio-economic hierarchies is known as hypergamy, which does not disappear as women’s status and independence increase. While modern women’s achievements should be applauded, an unintended consequence of female empowerment is diminishing romantic and marital prospects for both men and women. (RELATED: Marriage Is the Antidote to Societal Decay)

According to a paper published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, “when a randomly chosen woman within a marriage market becomes more likely to outearn a randomly chosen man, the marriage rate declines.” And when a wife’s income surpasses her husband’s, the marriage is 50 percent more likely to end in divorce.

Arranged or semi-arranged marriages, enforced monogamy, and the limits of rural life once imposed checks on hypergamous mating strategies. But after human sexuality was “liberated” from these traditional constraints through urbanization, female empowerment, and digital technology, the natural mating inequalities began to resurface.

The internet is now the most popular way for U.S. couples to meet, particularly through dating apps such as Hinge, Tinder, and Bumble. While these services have worked for some, 79 percent of Gen Z users say they have felt “mentally, emotionally, or physically exhausted by dating apps.” Profound outcome asymmetries, driven by dehumanizing algorithms and shallow swiping mechanisms, could explain the dating app burnout.

Hinge data shows that 58 percent of female “likes” go to just 10 percent of male users. Men who don’t stand out as exceptionally attractive are nearly invisible on the app, receiving very few or even zero connections. On Tinder, women “swipe right” only 4.5 percent of the time, on average, which means they reject about 22 men for every man they “like.” Men are far less picky, casually swiping right on most female profiles, yet only matching with 0.6 percent.

Unfortunately, romance is not egalitarian, and a deregulated sexual market produces titanic inequalities, especially among men.

If monogamy remains the social and legal norm (as it should), many women won’t be able to secure relationships with the men they’re most attracted to. But because of their financial independence, they would rather be alone than “settle” for a man who doesn’t match their criteria. According to one survey, most women believe that getting 80 percent of what they want in a partner is “settling.” But men consider 80 percent a “catch.”

If “settling” for a mediocre and passionless marriage with Joe Sixpack isn’t an option, would it be better to share Mr. Right with several other women than to consign oneself to a life of lonely singlehood?

Public opinion has liberalized on social issues, especially surrounding marriage. Even most young Republicans say it’s good that two adults of the same sex can get married. The argument for gay marriage — namely, that “love is love” — could easily be expanded to include polyamorous individuals who long for nuptial unity with several partners.

Chief Justice John Roberts’s dissent in the 2015 Supreme Court Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, which legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states, pointed out how this broadening of marriage’s definition to include polygamy was inevitable:

Indeed, from the standpoint of history and tradition, a leap from opposite-sex marriage to same-sex marriage is much greater than one from a two-person union to plural unions, which have deep roots in some cultures around the world. If the majority is willing to take the big leap, it is hard to see how it can say no to the shorter one.

The short “leap” is already underway in some U.S. states. In 2017, the Uniform Law Commission drafted model legislation that includes a provision recognizing families with more than two parents, and versions of the provision have passed in numerous states, such as California, Washington, Maine, Vermont, and Delaware.

In an article for the New Yorker defending the rights of polyamorists and polygamists, Andrew Solomon wrote, “American conservatism has long mourned the proliferation of single parents, but, if two parents are better than one, why are three parents worse?”

Some conservatives might regard polygamy as a natural, masculine, and healthy patriarchal arrangement — perhaps even as an effective way to boost the fertility rate. Elon Musk has at least 14 children with four women, and mainstream conservatives don’t have much of a problem with it. Influencer Andrew Tate, popular among young men, has said, “If all your children come from one woman, you are not a conqueror.” (RELATED: It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp (Especially If You’re Andrew Tate))

Polygamy is an antiquated custom of less-developed cultures that debilitates the social and moral progress of civilization. Countries that permit men to have several wives experience more crime, violence, poverty, and gender inequality than those that institutionalize and enforce monogamy.

Any proposals to normalize and legally sanction polygamy in the West must be resisted across the political spectrum. Conservatives who value tradition and social harmony, as well as progressives who champion women’s rights and gender equality, can stand united against a truly regressive practice.

Aidan Grogan is a history PhD student at Liberty University. His work has been published in The Daily Wire, The Federalist, RealClearMarkets, RealClearReligion, and The Daily Economy. Follow him on X @AidanGrogan. 

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