Polygamy research with an attitude.
In an opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal, Rose McDermott, a professor at Brown, decries the sins of polygamy. Polygamy certainly has its detractions and certainly can be misused and turn oppressive (so can monogamy), but the practice of polygamy by no means causes, “higher rates of HIV infection … more domestic violence, … more female genital mutilation and sex trafficking … more [death] in childbirth, [reduced life] expectancy… and reduced education.” She goes on to state that polygamous “…societies also spend more money on weapons and display fewer social and political freedoms than do monogamous ones.” This is a classic and egregious case of confounding statistical association with cause and effect. She might just as easily have said Islam makes you a terrorist, but surely she would never be caught dead uttering something politically incorrect. You would think a professor at a respected Ivy League university would be more astute, but, towards the end of McDermott’s diatribe, she gets to the real point: “When small numbers of men control large numbers of women…” Now, there’s there’s the real crux of the issue: feminism scorned.
I’m not in favor of polygamy, but surely it’s not the source of all evil. You can do better than that, Ms McDermott — or can you?