Polygamy

“Man is a natural polygamist: he always has one woman leading him by the nose, and another hanging on to his coattails.”

~ Henry Louis Mencken

Are they really polygamous?!
I mean, men believe and would like us to believe that they are polygamous. But are they?
I know this post defies convention. But then, when was I a regular girl next door?

Well looking at the dictionary meaning, polygamy means -
either

1. The condition or practice of having more than one spouse at one time. Also called plural marriage.

or

2. Zoology A mating pattern in which a single individual mates with more than one individual of the opposite sex.

Is it really this difficult to be in a monogamous 'loving' relationship? I mean, I look around and all I see is people getting out of their years-long relationships.. The reason? Sheer boredom!! But being bored and as a consequence getting into a polygamous state doesn't mean that men are innately so by nature.

I asked a simple out of the blue question to a lot of my guy friends.

Why would you want a wife(whenever you would, that is)?

And, not surprisingly, the one thing common to all their answers was - for companionship.
When guys say they want companionship, how can we, ever, even think that they would want to stray. Or that straying is something they look forward to, already.

After companionship, comes that they want to love and to be loved.

Which makes me wonder if we can talk of love and companionship and two timing and extra marital affair in the same breath?

But is companionship and love what we get when we are committed?
Things can get from bad to worse and men can get into an affair outside of marriage or the committed relationship they are in. Then maybe, it is only a maybe as I can't vouch for men, they would still rather have only one relationship. Only that they are not courageous enough to be able break away and hence the polygamous situation!


And hence, on this note let me end by quoting G.K. Chesterton, who very wisely said -

"Variability is one of the virtues of a woman. It avoids the crude requirement of polygamy. So long as you have one good wife, you are sure to have a spiritual harem."