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Few quarters back, in school, I took a pretty sweet Sociobiology course. One of the lectures were pretty interesting for several reasons. Here's a summary.

In nature, mating systems are largely determined by resource distribution. If resources are concentrated, polygamy becomes a popular mating system. If they are evenly distributed, then the mating system is more shifted to monogamy (though there is often cheating).

One theory for this(I'm using theory in the scientific sense) is that in the clustered resource situation, becoming someones second/third/etc. mate is more valuable than becoming the average males first mate.

Anyways, at the end of the lecture, some awesome guy looked at early LDS marriage records, and showed a pretty good correlation between high ranking church officials (more resources) and a larger number of wives.

Food for thought. If you're interested in seeing the lecture (I wish I could attach it), it's here:
http://protist.biology.washington.edu/b ... tures.html

It's titled "Mating_systems.pdf"

Very interesting. Joseph Smith seemed to be engaged in polygynandry (promiscuity).

Nah. It is much more likely that an angel with a flaming sword appeared and forced Joseph Smith to take multiple wives against his will.

Philandery perhaps...

Hey, I just remembered something else.

When a lower ranked female baboon ovulates, higher ranked pregnant females start to beat the crap out of her until she is no longer in heat. It's a way of ensuring their children gets more resources from the father.

I bet that is why Joseph Smith had such few children. Emma would just go to town on them. I believe it.

:)

Why Polygamy.

In the logic of anti Mormons, why not?

bcspace wrote:
logic

What you know about logic? (See what I did there?)

(See what I did there?)

Yes. You emptied your mind. But the "logic" itself is the horny ol' Joe hypothesis to which anti Mormons make frequent reference.

So BC if/when DNA shows that Joseph Smith did father children from someone other than Emma can we expect you to refer to him as "Horny ol' Joe" from then on? Or is this just another straw man defense you will abandon when the evidence shows otherwise?

So BC if/when DNA shows that Joseph Smith did father children from someone other than Emma can we expect you to refer to him as "Horny ol' Joe" from then on? Or is this just another straw man defense you will abandon when the evidence shows otherwise?

Neither. The fact that nothing has turned up after testing the prime suspects goes a long way towards eliminating the horny ol' Joe hypothesis. If such were to turn up, one would have also to contend with the reasonable expectation that a plurally married man would father children from his wives. Such does not prove horniness as the reason for multiple marriages. In fact, so doing is a historically inefficient way of satisfying one's lust for women and therefore actually speaks against the anti Mormon hypothesis.