DEFINITELY YES. but the truth about it is that people generally need re-orientation about having sex and whom u can have it with. some people still go about saying that there is no such thing called HIV/AIDS. even know a doctor who has more than 2 girlfriends and no be say he just they look their face any time he is with them. if a doctor who has enough HIV patients can be doing that then what do u expect people who have never come in contact with one do?

wirinet:

You have an obsession against polygamy that has nothing to do with the health alarm you are raising. Who (which is an authority on the spread and prevention of AIDS had never claimed Polygamy is responsible for AIDS. They say having multiple partners increases the risk of contracting the decease, and a monogamist in today's world usually have more multiple partners than a polygamist.
Your observation in Uganda cannot be used to conclude that polygamous societies have a higher prevalence rate than monogamous societies, because the largely polygamous Arab nations has some of the lowest prevalence rate in the world.

Please temper your hatred for polygamists before you start bombing them.

Hatred for the institution of polygamy is no bad thing. In any case in subsaharan Africa a chronic womanizer is more likely to revert to polygamy than a man who is more disciplined.
Furthermore there is no evidence that having more 'wives' makes such a person to desist from carousing with harlots.

tensor777:

Hatred for the institution of polygamy is no bad thing. In any case in subsaharan Africa a chronic womanizer is more likely to revert to polygamy than a man who is more disciplined.
Furthermore there is no evidence that having more 'wives' makes such a person to desist from carousing with harlots.

Hatred for the institution of polygamy is a bad thing, because it should not be your concern how many wives your neighbour decides to marry.

You said it, a chronic womanizer is likely to practice polygamy whether legal or illegal, and a man who is "discipline" would not marry more than one wife, even if polygamy is allowed.

There is a lot of evidence that most red light districts are patronized my Bible believing monogamists.

Yes I would agree that one should mind his own business at times. But then again some of those who grew up in polygamous homes are likely to take a hardline attitude against the institution.

Eziachi:


Polygamy is a form of having multiple indiscriminate sex to your wives by one man who will likely return home with the disease and spread it among the innocent wives. So the larger the number of wives he had, the higher the number of direct infection rate. If he had one wife, that means one direct infection. That is just common sense, it doesn't mean that polygamy is the direct cause of HIV but [b]one of the[/b]causes of it wide/fast spread within an area.

Assuming a man that has 5 wives and each of his wives had six children each and he infected them with the disease and they all die, you are looking at 30 orphans directly and immediatly within one confined environment, couple with high poverty level. If he has one wife and she died as a result of being infected by him, you are looking at just 6 orphans. Six orphans in life has a better chance of survival than 30 from one single family. COMMON SENSE!!

That is exactly what happened in Uganda, where it is custom and common in most rural areas for every man to have at least three wives. And there is a community, I visited with some British colleagues in 2001 in a fact finding mission for UNESCO, what remained in so many villages are thousands of little children left with their very aged grandparents, because their parents are all dead from HIV.  In some cases, the kids are looking after themselves because they are the only ones left. And almost 40 percent of the kid are already infected from birth.

That experience will live with me,the rest of my life. Uganda government had to do something and they did because they recognised this fact of life, though people will not like to accept it, but it's a simple logic, but unfortunately it seems that many Nigerians like BECOMRICH are still leaving in denial about the rate of HIV infection as we speak in Nigeria. IT'S A TIME BOMB. And Polygamy is just one of  other reason for fast infection within a confined area.

I support all the HIV/AIDS campaingn initiatives, because it is a dreadful deasease and I dont wish anyone having it.

But i will not support it on false claims or false alarm. I maintain that the root cause of spread of aids is not poligamy. Let me put it in another word, it is UNFAITHFULNESS. If a man is faithful with his wife/wives aids will not be spread. What we should preach is for a man to be faithful to his wife/wives and women to their husbands, if they cant, they should should use protection.

A man that will will have multiple sex partners will do so whether he is monogamous or polygamous same with the women. So what we should advocate is FAITHFULNESS and those who can not remain faithful should use PROTECTION.  Q.E.D.

Don't get me wrong, I am not for polygamy, it is a matter of choice for those involved. If you bring a reason like population control for being against polygamy, I will support.

I agree we have to stress faithfulness. But the issue goes far deeper than that. It is about the consequences for society when a womanizer has unprotected sex.

There would be the spread of AIDS, death of the man and his multiple sex partners, and the man's children,( from his multiple sex partners) becoming orphans.

We should view polygamy as one of the many negative fallouts of the womanizer's behaviour. That behavour has to be dealt with for the war against AIDS to be won. One practical way to do this is to outlaw polygamy and punish offenders with terms in captivity.

tensor777:

I agree we have to stress faithfulness. But the issue goes far deeper than that. It is about the consequences for society when a womanizer has unprotected sex.

There would be the spread of AIDS, death of the man and his multiple sex partners, and the man's children,( from his multiple sex partners) becoming orphans.

We should view polygamy as one of the many negative fallouts of the womanizer's behaviour. That behavour has to be dealt with for the war against AIDS to be won. One practical way to do this is to outlaw polygamy and punish offenders with terms in captivity.

The problem is the bold above. I believe we can deal with it without wasting time on campaigning for ban on polygamy. I just don't seen the ban changing the bold above, might even worsen it. Let's preach all that AIDS is real, That everyone should be faithful with his/her partner, if unable, use protection, then the problem is fully solved.

Real womanizer do not go around having unprotected sex, it is the fools that does that.

tensor777:

Well there is the argument That AIDS in subsaharan Africa is caused by male promiscuity on the one hand and a culture of casual  unprotected commercial sex on the other hand.
Often, the patrons of the harlots are husbands,  or even those men with multiple 'wives'.

I do agree with the fact that unprotected sex is a problem, but what has polygamy got to do with it

Which one do you prefer?

A law that is strictly in support of Monogamy (and allows you to keep mistresses knowingly or unknowingly to your spouse)

OR

Marry as many as you want and keep them under the same roof

md_dude:

Which one do you prefer?

A law that is strictly in support of Monogamy (and allows you to keep mistresses knowingly or unknowingly to your spouse)

OR

Marry as many as you want and keep them under the same roof

It is not for the law or the govt to define what marriage is.

There have always been laws about marital unions between men and women in society, whether written or unwritten,  For instance in the West bigamy is regarded as a despicable crime with offenders punished severely.
So perhaps AIDS torn countries in subsaharan Africa can promulgate similar laws in order to step up the  fight against AIDS.

OAM4J:

The problem is the bold above. I believe we can deal with it without wasting time on campaigning for ban on polygamy. I just don't seen the ban changing the bold above, might even worsen it. Let's preach all that AIDS is real, That everyone should be faithful with his/her partner, if unable, use protection, then the problem is fully solved.

You say that. But suppose the womanizer refuses to heed the call to use condoms when carousing with harlots, either due to drunkeness or that he does not like protected sex what happens then? AIDS or other STDs could be the consequence He will still go back home and infect his sex partners living with him.

On the other hand by legislating against polygamy the society sends out a clear message against keeping multiple sex partners and prevents some women from being innocent victims of the man's escapades.


A lot of people here want to shy away from the fact that what is at issue here is not condoms or culture but promiscuity. This law would directly address that issue.

tensor777:

You say that. But suppose the womanizer refuses to heed the call to use condoms when carousing with harlots, either due to drunkeness or that he does not like protected sex what happens then? AIDS or other STDs could be the consequence He will still go back home and infect his sex partners living with him.

On the other hand by legislating against polygamy the society sends out a clear message against keeping multiple sex partners and prevents some women from being innocent victims of the man's escapades.


A lot of people here want to shy away from the fact that what is at issue here is not condoms or culture but promiscuity. This law would directly adress that issue.

The point am making is that being polygamous is not what defined such man in bold. Whether the man is polygamous or not, he will still exhibit such behavior, only that the victims this time around will be his multiple mistresses who also are most likely to have other lovers (so you can imagine the spread). banning polygamy will not change such man, it will only change the way he goes about it. Except you believe such behavior is only justifies in monogamy.

Fhemmmy:

I do agree with the fact that unprotected sex is a problem, but what has polygamy got to do with it

Yes, unprotected sex is one of the causes but I am trying to identify ONE of the reasons for easy spread, they are two different issues- ONE OF THE CASUES & ONE OF THE AGENT OF SPREAD.

If a polygamous man and monogamous man is prominscous- Who among the two will be of bigger risk when they get home among number women?

I repeat again, this issue is not about the morality or immorality of polygamy. It about the merit of such a culture in a HIV prevalent environment, where men are the lord over sex and their wives can't say no. Remember, its not just confined to the man in the marriage, if one of the women is unfaithful and as result contract HIV VIRUS, the victim is not just the husband but other women too in the marraige that will innocently sleep with their husband later. It becomes a chain reaction.

OAM4J:

The point am making is that being polygamous is not what defined such man in bold. Whether the man is polygamous or not, he will still exhibit such behavior, only that the victims this time around will be his multiple mistresses who also are most likely to have other lovers (so you can imagine the spread). banning polygamy will not change such man, it will only change the way he goes about it. Except you believe such behavior is only justifies in monogamy.

You are right that promulgating such a law would not remove chronic womanizers. But there are two advantages such a law would confer

1) The woman that chooses to serve as a harlot [or mistress] would, by the very nature of her behaviour or profession, most likely (a) wear protection and (b)not have children

2)The chronic womanizer would no longer be able to hide his behaviour under the umbrella of culture and use polygamy as a means of continuing same.(In that wise, any woman that gets married to him would have the locus standi  to confront and challenge him over his behaviour)

wirinet:

You have an obsession against polygamy that has nothing to do with the health alarm you are raising. Who (which is an authority on the spread and prevention of  AIDS had never claimed Polygamy is responsible for AIDS. They say having multiple partners increases the risk of contracting the decease, and a monogamist in today's world usually have more multiple partners than a polygamist.
Your observation in Uganda cannot be used to conclude that polygamous societies have a higher prevalence rate than monogamous societies, because the largely polygamous Arab nations has some of the lowest prevalence rate in the world.

Please temper your hatred for polygamists before you start bombing them.

Its either you don't know what the word obsession means or you are just trying to be funny, this is a lively debate about an issue and you don't have to get your knickers in a twist. My observation in Uganda is based on fact and reality, which is what science is all about. What do you based yours on?

You cannot compare the attitutde to sex in the Arab land to that of Nigeria. In most Arab lands having an affair (women)will even warrant being stoned to death. And polygamy in Arab land is not as prevalent as you may wish to think as it is common among their elite. Another fact because I have worked with many middle eastern doctors for more than 30 years. Even their younger generation, no longer subscribed to it as their parents did.

But since you are such a campaigner for polygamy, WILL SHARE YOUR WIFE WITH ANOTHER MAN? If the answer is no, then your are a hypocrite.

Eziachi:



You cannot compare the attitutde to sex in the Arab land to that of Nigeria. In most Arab lands having an affair (women)will even warrant being stoned to death. And polygamy in Arab land is not as prevalent as you may wish to think as it is common among their elite. Another fact because I have worked with many middle eastern doctors for more than 30 years. Even their younger generation, no longer subscribed to it as their parents did.

I think a lot of people are shying away from the issue. It is about a culture where there are no societal strictures against a man having multiple sex partners. That is the major factor behind the spread of AIDS in subsaharan Africa. The link is glaring.

md_dude:

Which one do you prefer?

A law that is strictly in support of Monogamy (and allows you to keep mistresses knowingly or unknowingly to your spouse)

OR

Marry as many as you want and keep them under the same roof

In reaction to the bolded above, no one have answered this question which I have raised many times. Will the same principle be extended to women, to marry as many men as they wish and keep them under the same roof?
Will you do us the honour and volunteer to be the first man share his wife in marriage with another man. If not save your hypocrisy please.

wirinet:


What most people fail to accept is that sexuality and sex is a very complex issue, because sex is in the genes and the hormones and not controlled by the brain. Whole a man see a good backside and gets a hard-on, it is only a satisfaction of that urge or the power of the holy ghost that can bring it down again.  No threat of AIDs, hell fire or law can do it.

There is nothing complex about sex, it becomes complex for only the beneficiaries of its exploiters and then make a mess of it. Take your time before jumping into marrriage and try marry the love of your life and for the right reasons and try to invisage how she will look like in 40 years time and if it is ok with you,marry her and stay with her. I can assure you, its not as complex as you think. it will be if you make. You don't need lots of women to enjoy a sexual life, in fact the more the women, sex become a chore, rather than making love.
You don't have to listen to me, just a banter!!

Eziachi, why are you arguing with this misinformed people. As you can tell, most of them opposing you and saying that they oppose the law  are Yoruba's because they are they most radical polygamist in nigeria and most of them here are products of polygamous marriage.
P[b]OLYGAMY SHOULD BE OUTLAWED AND ANYBODY INVOLVED IN IT SHOULD BE JAILED. PERIOD[/b]
Most nigerians(polygamous yorubas and hausa's) are poor, yet they marry 4-10 wives. Who will pay for food, shelter, clothing not to even talk of college for these kids?? That is why you have over 10million beggar(mostly children) in the North because thier poor irresponsible fathers instead of tending to their welfare will run after the 11th wife, What Moro-ns.
Thank God this is not popular in my cutlure, though it exist. Most people in IGBOLAND who are polygamist are the rich ones though some poor ones are culprits but are in the minority. But the opposit is the case in the North and Southwest. You people should wake up, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY.
POLYGAMY SHOULD BE BANNED WITHOUT QUESTION

Nope but I do think there should be restrictions because polygamy DOES curve HIV/AIDS. The states in Nigeria that have the highest amount of Aids are those whos inhabitants dont practice polygamy as much but prostitution is the most likely.

[size=15pt]At the recent review of its activities for 2009 in Calabar, UNICEF said through its head of Enugu office, Mrs Pelusi Mtabirweki, that Benue, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Imo states had prevalence rates of 10.6 percent, 9.7 percent, 8.0 and 4.8 respectively.

[/size]http://allafrica.com/stories/200912070398.html

Without polygamy Nigeria would be 100 million times worse than South Africa in terms of the disease.

tensor777:

You are right that promulgating such a law would not remove chronic womanizers. But there are two advantages such a law would confer

1) The woman that chooses to serve as a harlot((or mistress) would by the very nature of her behaviour or profession most likely (a) wear protection and (b)not have children

2)The chronic womanizer would no longer be able to hide his behaviour under the umbrella of culture and use polygamy as a means of continuing same.(In that wise, any woman that gets married to him would have the locus standi  to confront and challenge him over his behaviour)

Thank you. Your 2 points make lots of sense. I can now agree with your argument.  

Eziachi:

In reaction to the bolded above, no one have answered this question which I have raised many times. Will the same principle be extended to women, to marry as many men as they wish and keep them under the same roof?
Will you do us the honour and volunteer to be the first man share his wife in marriage with another man. If not save your hypocrisy please.

I did answer your question Eziachi, that men are unfair but arguably/largely we still live in mens world. However I think the crusade of this thread is towards curbing the spread of HIV and not about the morals of polygamy. I doubt if you can win the morality arguiment of polygamy cos at the end it will end up being a matter of choice of individuals concerned, same as in homosexuality. But i will advice you stick to the crusade of curbing HIV as tensor777 is doing. All the same. Its a good debate.  

sjeezy8:

[Without polygamy Nigeria would be 100 million times worse than South Africa in terms of the disease.[/b]

We should not go off point and use incomplete staistics to come up with specious arguments. Has there been a comprehensive AIDS testing program in Nigeria??

sjeezy8:

Nope but I do think there should be restrictions because polygamy DOES curve HIV/AIDS. The states in Nigeria that have the highest amount of Aids are those whos inhabitants dont practice polygamy as much but prostitution is the most likely.

Without polygamy Nigeria would be 100 million times worse than South Africa in terms of the disease.

Smartest post! I wonder what polygamy has that increases spread of AIDS. 'Biased myopicness' by poster.

USA is a country bent on monogamy yet the spread of HIV/AIDS in this country with above average medical apparatus is astronomical. It is unacceptable naïveté and regrettable twist of facts to insinuate that polygamy constitutes a factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Dede1:

USA is a country bent on monogamy yet the spread of HIV/AIDS in this country with above average medical apparatus is astronomical. It is unacceptable naïveté and regrettable twist of facts to insinuate that polygamy constitutes a factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS.

How is the spreads of HIV/AIDS in the US astronomical? AIDS has been controlled very well in the US besides areas such as Baltimore and Atlanta.

i cant believe that you people are trying to equate monogamy=higher risk for HIV

Nigerians- we make an excuse for everything

Igwe-1:

Eziachi, why are you arguing with this misinformed people. As you can tell, most of them opposing you and saying that they oppose the law  are Yoruba's because they are they most radical polygamist in nigeria and most of them here are products of polygamous marriage.
P[b]OLYGAMY SHOULD BE OUTLAWED AND ANYBODY INVOLVED IN IT SHOULD BE JAILED. PERIOD[/b]
Most nigerians(polygamous yorubas and hausa's) are poor, yet they marry 4-10 wives. Who will pay for food, shelter, clothing not to even talk of college for these kids??. . .

See this punk talking trash. You are almost as smart as the dumb poster who tried to link polygamy with spread of HIV. Now isn't AIDS more endemic within your 'informed' monogamy loving tribe(from reliable stats)? If the poster's fiance became somebody's 3rd wife then he should kick back at polygamy in other ways. We all know statistics here!

sjeezy8:

Nope but I do think there should be restrictions because polygamy DOES curve HIV/AIDS. The states in Nigeria that have the highest amount of Aids are those whos inhabitants dont practice polygamy as much but prostitution is the most likely.

Without polygamy Nigeria would be 100 million times worse than South Africa in terms of the disease.

There are many reasons for the spread of HIV in every section of the world. In the developed world homosexuality/low moral/drug abuse are someof the causes of HIV by the use of shared needles by drug addicts is one of the chief spreading agents of the disease faster. Do you notice the two differences? cause as against wide spread.

In south Africa high sexual promixcuity along with lack of education plus poverty is the chief cause HIV infection but the culture of South African men leaving their local towns to reside miles away for months without their families to work on the mines, only to come back and sleep with their wives unprotected is the link to its fast spread. Do you again notice the difference?

If there is high rate in the states you mentioned in Nigeria, polygamy may not be the gebt of fast sprading of HIV because  the cultur is quite low there but will now be because people from those states as we know are more likely to live away from their wives to seek employment and return with the disease just as in South Africa.  And remember that there is a higher testing rate in S.A than in Nigeria.
The rate of infection in those states in Nigeria you mentioned will be even more if these men have more than one wives and who is sure they are also faithful to theur hubby while he is away and the rate of infection multiplies. The higher the number of dog in an area the higher the possible, its a siple logic. high rate of dog bites.
People should wake up as this is not about being a product of polygaamy, that you felt obliged to defend it or you are already at it yourself. It is based purely on health issue that is confronting Africa and not about morality or immorality of it.

Igwe-1:

Eziachi, why are you arguing with this misinformed people. As you can tell, [b][b][b][b][b][b]most of them opposing you and saying that they oppose the law  are Yoruba's[/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b] because they are they most radical polygamist in nigeria and most of them here are products of polygamous marriage.

Heres, guessing Tiger Woods is yoruba.And Kobe, and Bill Clinton, and >>>> should i go on?

platinumnk:

i cant believe that you people are trying to equate monogamy=higher risk for HIV

Nigerians- we make an excuse for everything

Monogamy equates higher rates of Prostitution which increases the spread of Aids.

MUZBO:

See this punk talking trash. You are almost as smart as the dumb poster who tried to link polygamy with spread of HIV. Now isn't AIDS more endemic within your 'informed' monogamy loving tribe(from reliable stats)? If the poster's fiance became somebody's 3rd wife then he should kick back at polygamy in other ways. We all know statistics here!

lol some people are in denial

@ I believe in one wife but I KNOW if there is a law banning polygamy others will turn to prostitutes and extramarital affairs, just like in SA and co . . .

The facts are there whether people like to realize it or not. The areas in Nigeria that practice polygamy have a higher poverty rate BUT those who dont practice Polygamy have HIGHER RATES OF PROSTITUTION AND AIDS.