IS POLYGAMY GOOD OR BAD?

There is a great conflict between whether it is right or wrong. I posted this question to 100 people, including my closet friends and family and 55% of them answered that it was right. The other 45% strongly believed that it was immoral and wrong. I asked for reasons to back themselves up but half of them, both who said it was right and wrong, couldn't give me any that made sense.

Social media commentator Malik Carlo said that he believed that the original mindset behind polygamy was to make sure that all men who had enough resources would take care of more women so that they wouldn't feel abandoned. "Sex was not the reason for polygamy", he concluded. As much as I liked what he said, I'm still conflicted whether the men he spoke about were men of African descent or men of all cultures and backgrounds.

I keep wondering about my forefathers. Was it all excellent and beautiful to have many women around you in the name of "having enough resources"? What about the many women? Were they happy to share a single man in the name of "he has enough resources for all of us"? What about intimacy? Were they comfortable enough to sexually share one husband? Comfortable enough to have orgies? Or be ignored when it was "your day" to get laid? How did it work?

The most progressive way to look at it would be to say that people should live and let live. For instance, let's say there were three men. Man A discusses polygamy with his household, and they are okay with it. That possibly is a good thing. Man B decides that he too wants to discuss it, but his family rejects the offer. He defies the rejection and does it anyway. That is a terrible thing to do. Now let us consider Man C. He doesn't open the door to discussion. He figures that because he is the man of the house, he has the ancestral right to get himself a second wife with or without his family's approval. That could be detrimental. With these three examples, it is safe to say that every person and household has a different set of needs and desires. Everyone can and has the right to be different, no matter how we may feel about them.

A close friend told me that he felt this topic was sad and should not be an issue. He went on to say that this kind of family structure was vital in how families of the past lasted longer, flourished more and had strong ties of unity for many a generation. "Calling polygamy a problem was many ways the white man used to try divide and separate us as Africans. It is our culture. Also, it was a way to make African women see each other as enemies", he concluded.

In conclusion, women outnumber men 7 to 1. What happens to the women who do not get the chance to get a husband? Who will take care of them and help produce more families, businesses and more communities? Do they marry each other and compliment same-sex marriage?

If the question "Is polygamy good or bad" was posed to me right now as a two marked examination question, I'd answer, "bad", without reason. I gladly forfeit the remaining one mark.