Correct. Polymagy and bigamy is illegal in the US. I'm sure Jeff has a better answer.
How many forum members are a father?
- Thread starter SteelBird
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Correct. Polymagy and bigamy is illegal in the US. I'm sure Jeff has a better answer.
bladerunner
Banned Idiot
I understand that polyandry is /was practiced in Tibetean Indian African culture. Saskatchewan Canada is the only jurisdiction in North America to have "judicially sanctioned" polyandrous unions at a family law court level.
However the "Mosuo" people who lived in Sichuan and Hunan have a interesting lifestyle.
Probably the most well-known and most misunderstood aspect of Mosuo culture is their practice of what has been termed “walking marriage” (or zou hun in Chinese). There is no traditional marriage in Mosuo culture (Kingdom of Women). Therefore, there are no husbands or wives. What has replaced the Western conception of marriage is called “walking marriage” or “visiting relations,”[7] in which partners do not live in the same household. Children of such relationships are raised by their mothers and the mothers' families. Shih (2010) is the most sophisticated anthropological account of Moso practices of sexual union.
[edit] General practice
The Mosuo live in large extended families, with many generations (great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and so on) living together within the same house. For the most part, everyone lives within communal quarters, without private bedrooms or living areas. However, women between certain ages (see the section on “coming of age” below) can have their own private bedrooms.
Every relationship in Mosuo culture is called a "walking marriage." These bonds are "based on mutual affection."[6] Traditionally, a Mosuo woman or man will initiate interest in a potential partner. If the companion expresses interest, the woman gives the man permission to visit her. Such pairings are generally conducted secretly, so the man walks to her house after dark, spends the night with her, and returns home early the next morning. Mosuo women and men can engage in sexual relations with as many partners they desire[8].
Even though a pairing may be long-term, the man never lives with the woman's family, and vice versa. Mosuo men continue to live with and be responsible to their own families; Mosuo women live with and are responsible to their own families. There is no sharing of property. Most significantly, when children are born, the father may have little responsibility for his offspring. "It is the job of men to care more for their nieces and nephews than for their own children."[2] If a father wants to be involved with the upbringing of his children, he will bring gifts to the mother's family, and state his intention to do so. This gives him a kind of official status within that family, yet does not actually make him part of the family. Regardless of whether the father is involved or not, the child will be raised in the mother's home and take on her household/family name.
[edit] Benefits
This type of marriage practice has many positive outcomes. First, it gives both participants equal measures of freedom. It can be initiated at will and ended in the same manner. Only rarely do families become involved. If a matriarch disapproves of a “visitor,” she can make the participants end the relationship, but this seldom happens. In other Asian cultures, “marriage is seen as a group decision.”[9] China, especially, has a history of focusing more on families' ties than the individuals' and works to serve the economic and political interests of these larger parties.[10] Walking marriages, however, negate these social pressures and allow more independence.
Another particularly important result of this practice is the lack of preference for children of a particular sex. For example, in most cultures, a female joins the male partner's family upon getting married. The result is that if a couple has many female children, they will lose them after marriage, and have no one to care for them in old age; but if they have male children, their sons (and their sons' wives) will care for them. So, in poorer populations in particular, there is a strong preference for male children.
However, among the Mosuo, since neither the male nor female children ever leave the household, there is no particular preference for one gender over the other. The focus instead tends to be on maintaining some degree of sexual balance, having roughly the same proportion of males to females within a household. In situations that this becomes unbalanced, it is not uncommon for Mosuo to adopt children of the appropriate sex or even for two households to "swap" male and female children.
[edit] Myths
Although sometimes believed otherwise by outsiders:
Mosuo women should not be considered promiscuous
While it is possible for a Mosuo woman to change partners as often as she likes, few Mosuo women have more than one partner at a time. Anthropologists call this system “serial monogamy.” Most Mosuo form long-term relationships and do not change partners frequently.[6] Some of these pairings may even last a lifetime.
Fathers of children are commonly known
The large majority of women know their children's fathers; it is actually a source of embarrassment if a mother cannot identify a child's father.[6] At a child's birth, the father, his mother and sisters come to celebrate, and bring gifts. On New Year's Day, a child visits the father to pay respect to him and his household. A father also participates in the coming-of-age ceremony. Though he does not have an everyday role, the father is nevertheless an important partner.
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With myself I think having children adds a little more to a relationship whether its in a marriage or a permanent relationship. I had a large family and in my mid thirties took time out from NZ and took a world with my children at the time i had three children aged 8 6 and 2 trip lasting 3yrs but that included a two yr stay in America. I was going to stay away longer but my wife was expecting and I decided to come home. WE arrived back in NZ and 1 week later the 4th (aboy was born).
No grandchildren at this stage though and i cant see any in the immediate future and my daughter and her long term partner have decided not to have any.
However the "Mosuo" people who lived in Sichuan and Hunan have a interesting lifestyle.
Probably the most well-known and most misunderstood aspect of Mosuo culture is their practice of what has been termed “walking marriage” (or zou hun in Chinese). There is no traditional marriage in Mosuo culture (Kingdom of Women). Therefore, there are no husbands or wives. What has replaced the Western conception of marriage is called “walking marriage” or “visiting relations,”[7] in which partners do not live in the same household. Children of such relationships are raised by their mothers and the mothers' families. Shih (2010) is the most sophisticated anthropological account of Moso practices of sexual union.
[edit] General practice
The Mosuo live in large extended families, with many generations (great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and so on) living together within the same house. For the most part, everyone lives within communal quarters, without private bedrooms or living areas. However, women between certain ages (see the section on “coming of age” below) can have their own private bedrooms.
Every relationship in Mosuo culture is called a "walking marriage." These bonds are "based on mutual affection."[6] Traditionally, a Mosuo woman or man will initiate interest in a potential partner. If the companion expresses interest, the woman gives the man permission to visit her. Such pairings are generally conducted secretly, so the man walks to her house after dark, spends the night with her, and returns home early the next morning. Mosuo women and men can engage in sexual relations with as many partners they desire[8].
Even though a pairing may be long-term, the man never lives with the woman's family, and vice versa. Mosuo men continue to live with and be responsible to their own families; Mosuo women live with and are responsible to their own families. There is no sharing of property. Most significantly, when children are born, the father may have little responsibility for his offspring. "It is the job of men to care more for their nieces and nephews than for their own children."[2] If a father wants to be involved with the upbringing of his children, he will bring gifts to the mother's family, and state his intention to do so. This gives him a kind of official status within that family, yet does not actually make him part of the family. Regardless of whether the father is involved or not, the child will be raised in the mother's home and take on her household/family name.
[edit] Benefits
This type of marriage practice has many positive outcomes. First, it gives both participants equal measures of freedom. It can be initiated at will and ended in the same manner. Only rarely do families become involved. If a matriarch disapproves of a “visitor,” she can make the participants end the relationship, but this seldom happens. In other Asian cultures, “marriage is seen as a group decision.”[9] China, especially, has a history of focusing more on families' ties than the individuals' and works to serve the economic and political interests of these larger parties.[10] Walking marriages, however, negate these social pressures and allow more independence.
Another particularly important result of this practice is the lack of preference for children of a particular sex. For example, in most cultures, a female joins the male partner's family upon getting married. The result is that if a couple has many female children, they will lose them after marriage, and have no one to care for them in old age; but if they have male children, their sons (and their sons' wives) will care for them. So, in poorer populations in particular, there is a strong preference for male children.
However, among the Mosuo, since neither the male nor female children ever leave the household, there is no particular preference for one gender over the other. The focus instead tends to be on maintaining some degree of sexual balance, having roughly the same proportion of males to females within a household. In situations that this becomes unbalanced, it is not uncommon for Mosuo to adopt children of the appropriate sex or even for two households to "swap" male and female children.
[edit] Myths
Although sometimes believed otherwise by outsiders:
Mosuo women should not be considered promiscuous
While it is possible for a Mosuo woman to change partners as often as she likes, few Mosuo women have more than one partner at a time. Anthropologists call this system “serial monogamy.” Most Mosuo form long-term relationships and do not change partners frequently.[6] Some of these pairings may even last a lifetime.
Fathers of children are commonly known
The large majority of women know their children's fathers; it is actually a source of embarrassment if a mother cannot identify a child's father.[6] At a child's birth, the father, his mother and sisters come to celebrate, and bring gifts. On New Year's Day, a child visits the father to pay respect to him and his household. A father also participates in the coming-of-age ceremony. Though he does not have an everyday role, the father is nevertheless an important partner.
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With myself I think having children adds a little more to a relationship whether its in a marriage or a permanent relationship. I had a large family and in my mid thirties took time out from NZ and took a world with my children at the time i had three children aged 8 6 and 2 trip lasting 3yrs but that included a two yr stay in America. I was going to stay away longer but my wife was expecting and I decided to come home. WE arrived back in NZ and 1 week later the 4th (aboy was born).
No grandchildren at this stage though and i cant see any in the immediate future and my daughter and her long term partner have decided not to have any.
Last edited:
Red___Sword
Junior Member
Thanks everyone.
Regarding the "Zou hun" (walking marriage) among some rural minor-ethnic people across Sichuan and Hunan... there's a "trick" which you won't find at wiki:
Legally speaking, "multi sexual union" is not a crime, so long as legal marriage didn't invloved. (Say, sex without marriage, is not a crime). The only problem MAY surface, is that women give birth while without a legal marriage - the national "Family Planning Policy" against this, but minor-ethnics has been waived from the "usual burden" of "permit to give birth" - not to mention they live at minor-ethnics municipality where administration and jurisdiction functions in a way more "culture tolerance" than "black and white".
Like siegecrossbow said at #20, fewer and fewer Mosuo practice bigamy in these days too.
Regarding the "Zou hun" (walking marriage) among some rural minor-ethnic people across Sichuan and Hunan... there's a "trick" which you won't find at wiki:
Legally speaking, "multi sexual union" is not a crime, so long as legal marriage didn't invloved. (Say, sex without marriage, is not a crime). The only problem MAY surface, is that women give birth while without a legal marriage - the national "Family Planning Policy" against this, but minor-ethnics has been waived from the "usual burden" of "permit to give birth" - not to mention they live at minor-ethnics municipality where administration and jurisdiction functions in a way more "culture tolerance" than "black and white".
Like siegecrossbow said at #20, fewer and fewer Mosuo practice bigamy in these days too.