ABSTRACT
The topic of this chapter is monogamy in relation to government policy: are there good reasons for the law to recognize only monogamous marriages as legal marriage? We think there are. In exploring the question and making our case, we inevitably speak also to wider issues, including the strong association between polygamy and patriarchy in the historical and anthropological record, and the issue of why egalitarian forms of plural marriage (nowadays often called “polyamory”) seem so rare. We base our case against legal recognition of plural marriage on its most prevalent form—patriarchal polygamy—because it predominates in the historical record and the practice of plural marriage globally. We also argue for sexual freedom and the decriminalization of non-monogamous adult consensual relations. We describe and defend liberal monogamy.
