# Polygamy: What happens to the poor sap who can't get the chicks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 3, 2001, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polygamy-what-happens-to-the-poor-sap-who-cant-get-the-chicks/48205 "2001-01-03T05:12:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polygamy-what-happens-to-the-poor-sap-who-cant-get-the-chicks/48205/21 "2001-01-06T20:59:07Z")
Please consider the typo of “incorporation” to actually read “incorporating.” Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Catenary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@Catenary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catenary)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polygamy-what-happens-to-the-poor-sap-who-cant-get-the-chicks/48205/22 "2001-01-06T21:09:40Z")
For those of you that see an upside to polygamy, might I mention that for every wife, one gains a mother in law. ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polygamy-what-happens-to-the-poor-sap-who-cant-get-the-chicks/48205/23 "2001-01-06T21:21:28Z")
**to-be-announced** : Actually, in _How the Mind Works_ (already mentioned in this thread), the argument goes that many religions, especially when they were just getting started, put monogamy laws in place to entice the lower classes to join, as it left more women “available” to men of lesser means. That is, it was a bit of a carrot to get them to join, as opposed to something to keep them in line. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2001, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polygamy-what-happens-to-the-poor-sap-who-cant-get-the-chicks/48205/24 "2001-01-07T03:58:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kinsey \* > I guess it would be considered fraud, to claim to be single in order to get benefits, but claim to be married in the eyes of God. That sounds like a catch-22 to me. If you claim to be married, you’re prosecuted for bigamy, and if you claim not to be you’re prosecuted for fraud. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2001, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polygamy-what-happens-to-the-poor-sap-who-cant-get-the-chicks/48205/25 "2001-01-07T06:25:58Z")
**Zoggie** , I think you’re confusing _A Study in Scarlet_ with _The Valley of Fear_. Also, I don’t remember the Mormon angle you mention - I thought _Fear_ was about a corrupt lodge, similar to the Masons, that ran the town? ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2001, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polygamy-what-happens-to-the-poor-sap-who-cant-get-the-chicks/48205/26 "2001-01-07T19:47:37Z")
No, _A Study is Scarlet_ is the one with the incredibly distorted, silly stories about evil polygamist Mormons. Even when polygamy was at its most common in old Utah, it still wasn’t all that common. Less than 10% of the people practiced ‘the Principle.’ Also, Mormon communities then, as now, tended to attract more women converts than men. If you go to an LDS church meeting in Korea, Russia–well, darn near anywhere outside the western US, you will find more women converts than men (although many of them will be married). If you want to know more about polygamy in Utah in the 1800’s, I can recommend _Polygamy: a history_ from the Signature Press. It’s a very interesting subject, and you’ll have a lot of preconceptions destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polygamy-what-happens-to-the-poor-sap-who-cant-get-the-chicks/48205/27 "2001-01-08T14:43:16Z")
> [@](#): > > For those of you that see an upside to polygamy, might I mention that for every wife, one > gains a mother in law. The Mormons married sisters so as to keep down the number of mothers-in-law. But in Islam it’s prohibited to marry sisters at the same time, so with every wife comes a different MIL. There’s no upper limit for Mormon polygamy, but in Islam four is the maximum. There are plenty of cases of Africans with nine or ten wives who convert to Islam, and in so doing they have to pick which four wives to keep and divorce the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polygamy-what-happens-to-the-poor-sap-who-cant-get-the-chicks/48205/28 "2001-01-08T15:00:00Z")
One person says, the LDS Church and Laws of Utah prohibit polygamy, someone else speaks as though the Mormon Church sanctions it. Good lordy, what’s the Straight Dope here? Not custom, but demanded by LDS Bible- is it or isn’t it?? One would assume that the Great State of Utah bans such acts. But, what about the LDS Bible- is it commanded to behave as such or not? Such waffling here ! Feh ! 😃 Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polygamy-what-happens-to-the-poor-sap-who-cant-get-the-chicks/48205/29 "2001-01-08T18:11:17Z")
I was talking about _old_ Utah, back when polygamy was still in practice. The early Mormons did practice polygamy, although on a fairly limited scale. Brigham Young and a few others are the most famous, because they had a lot of wives (many of these wives, however, were widows that Young married in order to bring them over the plains. He did not officially live with all of them, by any means). I think six wives was really about the upper limit for everybody else, and two was much more common. But polygamy was never practiced by more than about 2 - 5% of the population. The federal gov’t was not happy about this, and offically outlawed polygamy. Men were hunted down and imprisoned, and spent years in hiding because they wouldn’t renounce their wives. In 1890, the president of the church, Wilford Woodruff, announced that polygamy would no longer be practiced in the LDS Church. Men kept their wives, but didn’t marry polygamously any more. If the Mormons had not renounced polygamy, they would probably have been effectively destroyed, what with all the hiding and jailing and stuff going on. So–Mormons haven’t been polygamous for over a hundred years. Splinter groups–who aren’t Mormon–have formed, and do practice polygamy, most often in Utah, where it’s still illegal, although not widely enforced. Lifestyle choices, however illegal officially, are rarely prosecuted anywhere now. As for the LDS Bible, it’s the same as your Bible. The Mormons have additional scripture, in the _Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants_, and the _Pearl of Great Price._ You’ll find the revelations concerning polygamy in the _Doctrine & Covenants,_ Section 132 and Official Declaration 1. Mormons believe that the current prophet’s revelations have precedence over old revelation. Thus when God told Joseph Smith to start polygamy, he did (albeit reluctantly). And when God told Wilford Woodruff to stop, he did. Having more than one wife is an eternal principle, but God decides who practices it at what times, as he does with other principles. (Examples include the Mosaic law versus the higher law given in the Sermon on the Mount, and the LDS Word of Wisdom.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polygamy-what-happens-to-the-poor-sap-who-cant-get-the-chicks/48205.md?page=1)