Yes. The likelihood of failure would have been much higher. I think it would have been an insult to Shari and Christie for Steve to say I was their equal when I was just coming into the family and it wasn't yet certain if I'd see it through.
I think this is important on a lot of levels.
When you look at the plig seeking sites, you see a Lot of the ladies profiles using various itterations of "I want to be an equal partner" and it is clear that nobody thinks they should be a junior partner ever. I suppose that the perceived marketplace value as supported by the tonnes of attention woman on all dating sites get, helps to reinforce the idea that they will just slot right in at the same level of a wife of years or decades. Even if they are showing up with a couple of suitcases and not a tonne to bring to the party beyond their company...or in a few cases significant debts and baggage from previous relationships.
I have to assume that the small number of these women who were/are sincere in the desire to lead plig life, will in fairly short order be snapped up by the men or couples who are willing to agree to those terms. I also assume that by going along with that notion of immediate equals just by setting foot in the door, that the relationship is all the more likely to be doomed from the start.
On that point alone I was not their equal. Shari had demonstrated her commitment to Steve and Christie had demonstrated her commitment to both Steve and Shari. With me I had serious doubts about everything including myself. Leaving was a possibility for me up until I got pregnant. Then it was a lot less likely. Then I found out I had twins coming and while I wasn't going to leave I also felt trapped. Looking back this was a good thing. It made up my mind for me and I had choices taken away from me.
I dislike being seen as a bad decision and that a woman would feel trapped in a marriage with me but I suppose I can see how thst might be an unavailable stage in a relationship with some women. Just doesn't sound particularly flattering
Yes. First is because it's realistic. If your first wife is still with you after you take a plural then her commitment is less in doubt than the plural's commitment.
with the number of false starts and times we have been ghosted by women who were the day before professing love for me/us, I would certainly need to have the commitment proven more than a little.
On a personal level, I hope to meet someone with more of a cultural or personal familial connection to polygamy than someone who thinks it would be a fun adventure or who is desperate and sees me as a potential safe haven or temporary respite from whatever life she was tired of for the time being. I suppose if we use concubine in the context as discussed in this thread then I am fine with it for a time but I certainly would not like the idea of getting my emotional guts ripped out if after having lived as a concubine for a time, a woman decided the life was not for her.
I figure someone with the right background and preexisting thought patterns is less apt to jump in on a whim and less likely to bolt when she gets bored or anxious or what have you.
I know for myself I have a special kind of respect for real first wives because they've had to go it alone. I've never had to go it alone.
they are champs for a fact
I kinda understand how men roll with new women in the house.
That's a
reality and not a theory. Granted that a new plural may not be a 100% concubine boink bunny but to some degree
she will be. That's normal. It's normal for a man to want to get to know his new wife and maybe even have children with her.
plural wife or mono wife, at the beginning there will be a lot of happy making activities for a fact
A plural family is not a convent and patriarchal men are not monks.
accurate
Society doesn't approve of plurals and patriarchy and I just don't see any room to tolerate their rules and expectations in our families.
Brava
Then they seek satisfaction of their need for an actual man by seeking out the wrong kind of manly man who just wants an affair. Or perhaps they're suited to each other and they end up together.
yuck
I do think there is a core biological reflex under this where a woman might marry this guy because he's 'safe':
View attachment 6022
eek
But when it comes time for her to feel that reproductive or mating urge she seeks out the guy who satisfies her biological imperatives:
View attachment 6023
The first man in IMHO designed to be revolted by all of this and he abandons the cheating wife and she takes up with the second guy.
Choosing the goof and then going for the more masculine douch for what amounts to more manly genes as opposed to just marrying a masculine man with existing wife sounds like R vs K strategy or sperm selection vs mate selection evolutionary psychology.
Would prefer to see more woman consider the second option obviously. It worked well for our ancestors and it certainly has a place today...more and more as the world goes insane by my lights
From the other woman's perspective (been there, got the maternity dress!) there is something undeniably smokin' hot about the man who has more than one woman and who has had babies with them AND is committed to them! This IMHO is why so many women are attracted to married men.
Well...the flirtation I will receive on occasion certainly is not because I am pretty so I suppose that might explain it
The failure of the women who want the mono-married man is when they want what the first wife has. And they can never have that. I find it ironic that the other woman wants the trustworthy, loyal, and committed married man but the very second she takes possession of him all those qualities about him go POOF! and are gone. Now he's just a cheater and philanderer and that's what the other woman gets.
The poly woman will want what the patriarchal man has provided for his family and guess what? She can have it!
Bingo
Not if as Samuel says the role of concubine leads the plural into becoming a wife. In which case the role is temporary but the wife is permanent.
Certainly hope it is
Honesty is the best policy. Especially within your family.
Part of why over the years I have seen the wisdom behind patriarchy and especially quiverfull patriarchy. Speaking for myself, I stopped feeling like a guest (or interloper) when I had my twins.
Definitely sound notion, cementing the place in the family soonest by way of a baby