Polygamy

[Julia Thompson]

On Mon, 4 Feb 2008, William T Goodall wrote:

>
> On 4 Feb 2008, at 14:40, Julia Thompson wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, 4 Feb 2008, William T Goodall wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On 4 Feb 2008, at 05:10, Julia Thompson wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, 4 Feb 2008, William T Goodall wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 4 Feb 2008, at 03:24, Alberto Vieira Ferreira Monteiro wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Keith Henson wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Considering that polygamy is the norm for the vast majority of
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> cultures in the world, it's an interesting question how the
>>>>>>> western
>>>>>>> countries, and a few others, became monogamous.  It seems to be
>>>>>>> associated with settled agriculture but I don't know if there
>>>>>>> is a
>>>>>>> connection or why.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> I would guess that it's peace that doomed polygamy. There can't
>>>>>> be polygamy unless there's more women than men, otherwise
>>>>>> the men without women will revolt.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> If gay men don't marry women then there are more available women
>>>>> than
>>>>> straight men.
>>>>
>>>> You're failing to take into account lesbians who have absolutely no
>>>> interest in men.  (Like several people in one of my social
>>>> circles....)
>>>> That might balance things out somewhat there, putting you back to
>>>> square
>>>> one.
>>>
>>>
>>> The consensus is that the  proportion of women who are lesbians is
>>> much lower than the proportion of men who are gay. If we remove all
>>> gay and lesbian people from the equation there is still a surplus of
>>> straight women to straight men. How big a surplus depends on whose
>>> numbers for the proportions are correct.
>>
>> I think the concensus is off, then.  I think it's close to equal, or
>> very
>> slightly biased towards more lesbians.
>>
>> Do you have sources to cite?  I'd be interested in seeing them if
>> you do.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_sexual_orientation
>
> "United States
>
> 1990: "Homosexuality/Heterosexuality: Concepts of Sexual Orientation"
> published findings of 13.95% of males and 4.25% of females having had
> either "extensive" or "more than incidental" homosexual experience. [12]
>
> 1990-1992: The American National Health Interview Survey does
> household interviews of the civilian non-institutionalized population.
> The results of three of these surveys, done in 1990-1991 and based on
> over 9,000 responses each time, found between 2-3% of the people
> responding said yes to a set of statements which included "You are a
> man who has had sex with another man at some time since 1977, even one
> time." [13]
>
> 1992: The National Health and Social Life Survey asked 3,432
> respondents whether they had any homosexual experience. The findings
> were 1.3% for women within the past year, and 4.1% since 18 years; for
> men, 2.7% within the past year, and 4.9% since 18 years;[14]
>
> 1993: The Alan Guttmacher Institute found of sexually active men aged
> 20–39 found that 2.3% had experienced same-sex sexual activity in the
> last ten years, and 1.1% reported exclusive homosexual contact during
> that time.[15]
>
> 1993: Researchers Samuel and Cynthia Janus surveyed American adults
> aged 18 and over by distributing 4,550 questionnaires; 3,260 were
> returned and 2,765 were usable. The results of the cross-sectional
> nationwide survey stated men and women who reported frequent or
> ongoing homosexual experiences were 9% of men and 5% of women. [16]
>
> 1998: A random survey of 1672 males (number used for analysis) aged 15
> to 19. Subjects were asked a number of questions, including questions
> relating to same-sex activity. This was done using two methods — a
> pencil and paper method, and via computer, supplemented by a verbal
> rendition of the questionnaire heard through headphones — which
> obtained vastly different results. There was a 400% increase in males
> reporting homosexual activity when the computer-audio system was used:
> from a 1.5% to 5.5% positive response rate; the homosexual behavior
> with the greatest reporting difference (800%, adjusted) was to the
> question "Ever had receptive anal sex with another male": 0.1% to 0.8%.
> [17]
>
> 2003: Smith's 2003 analysis of National Opinion Research Center
> data[18] states that 4.9% of sexually active American males had had a
> male sexual partner since age 18, but that "since age 18 less than 1%
> are [exclusively] gay and 4+% bisexual". In the top twelve urban areas
> however, the rates are double the national average. Smith adds that
> "It is generally believed that including adolescent behavior would
> further increase these rates."The NORC data has been criticised
> because the original design sampling techniques were not followed, and
> depended upon direct self report regarding masturbation and same sex
> behaviors. (For example, the original data in the early 1990s reported
> that approximately 40% of adult males had never masturbated--a finding
> inconsistent with some other studies.)"

Oh, OK.

All I was operating on was anecdotal evidence, which was *very* heavily 
biased towards lesbians.  Thank you for the information!

 	Julia