# Extreme polygamy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2023, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020 "2023-09-13T00:35:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/121 "2023-09-26T16:39:45Z")
Thanks, I had no idea. I’ve heard about a lot of strange holy things (aren’t there some relics supposed to be Jesus’ foreskin?), but never about sacred underwear. Ignorance fought. (they don’t look very sexy, but functional) ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/122 "2023-09-26T16:47:52Z")
I have no connection to LDS and I only know from reading, but… I gather polygamy started because Joseph Smith’s preaching converted a lot more women than men. What to do with all the extra women who were joining his religious community? Simple - multiple wives. So there was a practical reason in the beginning, but as an ongoing self-contained community the concept was obviously not really sustainable. I suppose for a while, it worked that the older men took the younger women, but sooner or later there would be an imbalance. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/123 "2023-09-26T21:32:21Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > never about sacred underwear. Ignorance fought. Commonly referred to outside the faith as “Mormon long-johns.” “Long johns” being American slang for winter-weight underwear that’s half or more body coverage. ---
**Author:** ![Kelevra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/124 "2023-09-29T16:24:13Z")
Jumped in here (late) to add I saw an interview with a woman who was part of a “harem”. She wrote a book called [Some Girls](https://www.amazon.com/Some-Girls-My-Life-Harem-ebook/dp/B003NX7O64/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2JSBTUSIW9I65&keywords=some+girls+book&qid=1696003921&sprefix=some+girls+book%2Caps%2C82&sr=8-1) about her experience. For a while she was the favorite and said she basically had to be willing to have sex at any time. In return she got a lot of money/goods. I recall her saying she and a few others would go into a store and just grab $20,000 dresses and buy them without trying them on. They might never wear them. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2023, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/125 "2023-09-30T20:25:23Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > You’re forgetting that Smallpox ravaged most parts of North America long before European contact. Well, since European contact _caused_ the smallpox pandemic- not quite. Of course some tribes got hit before _that tribe_ had Euro contrat. But the initial cause was European contact. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2023, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/126 "2023-09-30T21:03:47Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Of course some tribes got hit before _that tribe_ had Euro contrat. That’s what I meant. If you map out the Americas year by year starting in 1492, painting in the parts where smallpox and other diseases had reached in one color and places where contact with Europeans had been made, you’d see a few initial overlapping dots, and then by the mid 1500s the diseases would spread ahead of Europeans ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/127 "2023-10-01T03:25:24Z")
Considering the worst hit the Pacific Northwest tribes in the late 1800’s, when Victoria was already an established town, the spread was not complete. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/128 "2023-10-01T05:44:52Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > wives don’t just dissappear in a puff of smoke (except maybe in India) Cold. Just cold. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/129 "2023-10-01T13:30:36Z")
But _very_ well-played. Morbid humor is another dish best served cold. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2023, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/130 "2023-10-26T19:05:45Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > lot more ridged for all involved For her pleasure, no doubt. (Sorry, couldn’t resist!) ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2023, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/131 "2023-10-26T20:12:45Z")
> [@Orville\_mogul](#): > > > [@md-2000](#): > > > > wives don’t just dissappear in a puff of smoke (except maybe in India) > > Cold. Just cold. …says the guy with “mogul” in his username… ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2023, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/132 "2023-10-26T20:24:48Z")
Suttee was a Hindu practice. The Mogul emperors were Muslim. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/133 "2023-10-26T21:33:35Z")
_Ripley’s Believe It or Not,_ a precursor to the SD, albeit not necessarily a well-researched one, once showed how the Great Mogul’s libido resulted in the game of Parcheesi. Of course the courtiers would try to gain favor by supplying him with women as has been the practice for eons, so to make things interesting he sat on a raised divan conducting state affairs while the women moved as pieces towards him at the roll of the dice. The Ottoman Sultan would discreetly view the odalisques bathe and send an apple to his night’s desire (or, more usually, his mom would play procuress). The woman had that night and that night alone to receive his imperial essence, and if she conceived a male heir might one day take the place of sultan’s mother (a mighty position: one such mom slapped the visiting Empress Eugénie of France with impunity). Of the thousands of women who served in the sultan’s bed, a few dozen males would be born, and all but the eldest would be strangled at his accession. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2023, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/134 "2023-10-26T22:08:12Z")
If I were a junior prince in the Sultanate, I would keep a fast horse on standby along with a disguise and a large bag of jewels. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/135 "2023-10-27T12:02:55Z")
The younger men were kept locked up, to prevent that. Or maybe they started locking up the younger brothers instead of killing them. > **[Fratricide | Ottoman Empire](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fratricide#Ottoman_Empire)** > > Fratricide was not a legal practice in the foundation of the Ottoman Empire. The practice of fratricide was legalized by Mehmed II. His grandfather, Mehmed I, struggled over the throne with his brothers Süleyman, İsa, and Musa during the Ottoman Interregnum. This civil war lasted eight years and weakened the empire due to the casualties it inflicted and the division it sowed in Ottoman society. As a result, Mehmed II formally legalized the practice of fratricide in order to preserve the state and... ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/136 "2023-10-27T12:42:01Z")
That must have made for a fun family conversation round the dinner table. Hey Dad, how’s work? Oh, pretty good. The new bureaucracy’s running smoothly at last, I’ve made it legal for your older brother to kill you when he takes the throne, and I’ve picked up an _Iliad_ for the state library. Wow, an Iliad! That’s fantast…wait what? ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/137 "2023-10-27T15:56:15Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Hey Dad, how’s work? > Oh, pretty good. The new bureaucracy’s running smoothly at last, I’ve made it legal for your older brother to kill you when he takes the throne, and I’ve picked up an _Iliad_ for the state library. > Wow, an Iliad! That’s fantast…wait what? “Don’t worry son… the good news is if he dies before me, then you’re next in line and you get to kill little Hussein and Mehmet Jr…” ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/138 "2023-10-27T16:01:43Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > > [@Stanislaus](#): > > > > The new bureaucracy’s running smoothly at last, I’ve made it legal for your older brother to kill you when he takes the throne, and I’ve picked up an _Iliad_ for the state library. > > Wow, an Iliad! That’s fantast…wait what? > > “Don’t worry son… the good news is if he dies before me, then you’re next in line and you get to kill little Hussein and Mehmet Jr…”. “Don’t be so dramatic son, I simply codified into law a long standing and accepted means of succession. Even if I hadn’t done so we both know you boys would be at each other’s throats the moment I died. I’m just recognizing reality.” ---
**Author:** ![DooProcess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DooProcess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooProcess)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020/139 "2023-11-29T02:08:42Z")
There’s four weeks in a month… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-polygamy/990020.md?page=6)