Monogamy is generally bad.

"I believe that human nature is what corrupts it, if you will, polygamy, and that ultimately its practice would cause more harm than good." Hmmm. Am I to understand then that you're going to lay the evils of any institution at the feet of human nature and leave the institution itself unscathed? Surly not. Human nature isn't at issue so much as our honesty with regard to it. I'm content with my nature, this is a door to millions of other issues. I'll try not to bring them up here. Further, how do you define harm? I take a rather broad view. Harm is pain of any sort that could have been prevented or can be removed. Given our level of intellectual advancement this is a wide net indeed. "I know that a lot of people, instinctively, would not want to be one of many for their partner." I think you're confusing instinct with learned response. There are many anthropological studies that shed light on the nature of base human mating behaviors and very rarely are they truly monogamous. Genetically, and instinctually, the consensus appears to be that we are polygamous by nature, or serial monogamists at most, which to me is merely a dishonest form of polygamy. "In my relationships, certainly, I know I would have a problem if my girlfriend was not happy with just me, and wanted another guy in addition." I think that attitude again is a learned insecurity and stems from potential loss. I.E. You are afraid that the other man do what you could not and convince her to be with just him. What if that was not the goal of either of you and you both knew it? This attitude is doomed from the start anyway as it's based on a lie, or at least a statistical near impossibility. Nothing is permanent. Including love. (this is part of another debate lol) In a mature society, one honest with itself about its nature and thus not sex obsessed, this insecurity would evaporate or be directed where it belongs, at the direct participants. This brings up an issue of responsibility. We often blame outsiders for our own relationship ‘failures'. The idea of the ‘home wrecker' being a perfect example. Great studies have been done on who women typically blame when a relationship ‘fails' and the partner ‘cheats'. The majority of the time women blame outside women and men blame women as well lol. My theory is that women get the blame because they are the chooser sex, and they have the power, but this is also based on a lie because unless it was rape, it takes two to tango. But again, in a mature society, this would not occur as the dishonesty itself would be at issue, not merely the sexual act that signified it. I.E. "Why weren't you honest with me? Why didn't you tell me you had desires for this woman?" That question cannot occur in our society, because an honest answer or solution is punished. In fact its clichï¿½ for a woman to say "You can be honest, do you think she's pretty?" and then punish the poor sap for believing her. I simply advocate the dissolution of barriers, and while I may personally be polygamous by nature, I am not trying to force others to join me, because I feel I don't have to. If they had the free option I think by and larger they would side with me by choice. Thus, allowing for that option is my goal. "I don't doubt feelings of competition may arise to try and be the "favorite" partner." Yes but in a polygamous society (of the type I'm advocating) this would not have the devastating emotional consequences it does in a monogamous society and thus the reaction to it would be mellowed accordingly. Further, while the formation of a favorite may be possible it is far more probable that favorites in given areas would develop instead. I.E. "This one is my favorite lover, and this one is my favorite conversationalist." etc. This in fact would help in making the persons feel special instead of valueless. "Look at all the people who love me for who I am." Instead of "Out of 6.6 billion people, you alone love me." Any rational person realizes that there is statistically always going to be someone ‘better' than you at any given category. (1 in 6.6 bill odds) This attitude that you can be a person's favorite in ANY field is absurd, let alone the infinitely more insane idea that you can be in ALL fields. Again the problem is not polygamy, but the stubborn refusal of the culture to face facts due to a lie being sold to us from the start. ( For reasons of raw greed. ) In this case that lie being the "one perfect mate" theory. In reality, we all settle, largely to avoid the stigma of being ‘not good enough for anyone'. And we will continue to do so until we learn to share, or fabricate our mates to specification from scratch. "Now, I'll make a point to study up on polygamy in various cultures during the course of this debate.." That's awesome and I encourage and congratulate you for doing so, however, I want it clear that I am advocating a wholly new form, and it has not been tried in history because no culture has been mature enough to try it, much like my direct democracy governmental model. But of course you may find general flaws to the freedom I'm suggesting, and I'm willing to hear them if you do. "…typically, it is more socially acceptable for a man to be with multiple women than one woman with multiple men." Social acceptance (or rejection) is the issue exactly. I plan to approach this as the abolitionists approached slavery. I will annihilate my enemy with patience, human nature, and education. For one, I'm advocating that humans be allowed to marry/date/sleep with any human capable of consent that will have them. I'm not going to discriminate along gender or sexual lines at all. I want the word "s*ut" or at least its negative connotations, banished from the language. Being free to enjoy sex to me is a human right. "So, this would ultimately lead to too many men and not enough women to marry. Among the Fundamentalist Mormons (FLDS), this leads to frequent banishment of men and boys to allow more women to be available for the other men." This is a problem with polygyny, not polygamy. In fact the Mormon version of polygamy is worse than monogamy on every front except perhaps the adolescent male, harem fantasy, one. So just to be clear, if you persist in attacking polygyny I'm going to cry straw man. :) Thank you for a well thought out response, this is priceless to me.