# Guys: A Reverse Harem: Could You Live Like That? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 10, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860 "2011-09-10T22:14:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/1 "2011-09-10T22:14:43Z")
Well, couldya? Me - no. That’s a lot of freedom to give up, and I don’t think we guys have the same monogamous personality as the ladies. Q ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/2 "2011-09-10T22:20:15Z")
I’m not sure monogamy is the best word to apply to a harem… ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/3 "2011-09-10T22:31:52Z")
From whose point of view? 🙂 The “Haremee” can only screw the “Haremist”, or have I got that wrong? Anyway, this is probably considered an “inane” topic to read, huh? Could be worse, though. You could have to sit here and think this shit up, so _you’d_ have something to read! 🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/4 "2011-09-10T22:37:48Z")
Especially because for the most part they did not have a choice … and they slept in dorms with chaperones so there was no hanky panky between the women, and from what I understand the food came in prepared so there were no cylindrical fruits or veggies for playing with either. :eek: Life in a harem is way more boring than people think it was. It was nothing like fantasy describes. [I will guess we are talking about the Golden Palace in Istambul Turkey. It took bearing a son to get a private suite. The official wives could be muslim, but the slave concubines could not be muslim. There was a legal prohibition apparently to keep muslim slaves, which is why the majority of slaves came from out of area markets. The Jainisarries were the more famous of groups of slaves.] ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/5 "2011-09-10T22:49:48Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > Me - no. You could if there were armed guards keeping you in and everybody else out. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/6 "2011-09-10T22:50:59Z")
I’m not interested in marriage of any kind, polyandrous or not. And I understand that in the rare cases where polyandry is practiced (in some parts of Tibet for example), few people involved actually like it. They practice it for economic reasons. Humans have natural tendencies toward polygyny, not polyandry. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/7 "2011-09-10T22:51:47Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > From whose point of view? 🙂 From everyone’s POV, harem seems more polygamous than monogamous. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/8 "2011-09-10T22:52:15Z")
just let me spend all my downtime with a nice piano, a good stash of pale ale, some dark roast coffee and a sack of good herb. I’ll screw anything you want in that case. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/9 "2011-09-10T23:01:24Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Humans have natural tendencies toward polygyny, not polyandry. That’s because a man with several wives greatly increases the number of children he can have per unit time. A woman with several husbands is still stuck to the one kid every nine months timetable. Available womb space is the limiting reagent in the process – sperm is cheap. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/10 "2011-09-10T23:06:10Z")
> [@picker](#): > > just let me spend all my downtime with a nice piano, a good stash of pale ale, some dark roast coffee and a sack of good herb. > > I’ll screw anything you want in that case. And I was going to say, “If the pay is right.” You are far more eloquent than I, sir. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/11 "2011-09-10T23:20:25Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > From everyone’s POV, harem seems more polygamous than monogamous. Polygamous among the women, **Freudian Slit**? Surely the Sultan (or whatever his rank) can have the pick of any of his women, put must only screw him? What am I missing?😕 Q PS: Didn’t we have (or don’t we have) a harlem member at one time? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/12 "2011-09-10T23:40:00Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > Polygamous among the women, **Freudian Slit**? Surely the Sultan (or whatever his rank) can have the pick of any of his women, put must only screw him? Sure, but the overall situation is still polygamous. They can only have sex with him, but since he’s not committed just to her, I don’t think I’d call it monogamy. In other words, she’s only having sex with one guy but since she’s in a situation where he’s having sex with lots of other women, I don’t think it’s monogamy. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/13 "2011-09-10T23:55:15Z")
“_Poly-monogamous_”!!! 🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/14 "2011-09-11T22:49:07Z")
Good call **Quasi**. To OP – I don’t care. As long as I have my toys to play around with (supra, a good piano, some recorded music, and some chemicals), I’d stick it to any bitch who wants it. Sounds bad, but that’s the truth. And, no, I wouldn’t call them bitches or even think of them like so. Beats sticking a pound of baloney in a hole in the couch and calling it fucking, AFI’mConerned. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/15 "2011-09-11T22:58:38Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > PS: Didn’t we have (or don’t we have) a harlem member at one time? New York cabbie: I don’t go to Harlem. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/16 "2011-09-11T23:02:49Z")
Us girls used to talk about this a lot at sleepovers. “So, who would you have in your harem? No, you can’t have him! _I_ picked him!” And so on into the night. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/17 "2011-09-11T23:03:51Z")
NFW The scenario would never happen anyway, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-a-reverse-harem-could-you-live-like-that/595860/18 "2011-09-12T00:24:04Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > New York cabbie: I don’t go to Harlem. Ha! I love it! Good one, **Musicat**. 😃 At least it was a funny typo. **Typo Knig** would be proud! Thanks Q