OK
So the question is:
What do you mean by "enforced monogamy?"
Well, we could start by what I don't mean.
I don't mean taking innocent women at gunpoint
and handing them over to useless men,
which is essentially the accusation.
It was really interesting to watch that unfold.
What I meant was that
monogamy, as something that's socially valued,
appears to be essentially a human universal.
That doesn't mean that human beings are universally monogamous
because obviously we're not. We can be serially monogamous,
and some people are players and have multiple partners, and all of that.
But there's a strong proclivity across known societies
to tilt towards monogamy,
and the enforcement is social norms.
Think about it... I can't believe I even have to say this.
Your son just gets married, and he comes home and he says, "Guess what, dad? I've been screwing around."
And what do you do? Do you pat him on the head, and you say, "Hey, good work, kid, that's my young man."
Right? Well, no! You... you're not happy about that. And he doesn't tell you,
because he knows you're not going to be happy about it. And that's enforced monogamy.
It's part of the social structure. And what else is enforced monogamy?
Well, most people want a monogamous relationship.
And if they enter into a relationship with someone, they're not happy if that person goes and sleeps around, right?
Most of you, you wouldn't be happy if that happened.
Not being happy, that's part of enforced monogamy.
It's part of this... you know, and you might have noticed... you probably did:
Polygamy is actually illegal. You can't have multiple marital partners simultaneously.
That's enforced monogamy.
And it's an anthropological term. And it's been known for a hundred years
by anthropologists, most of whom are left-leaning, by the way, because that's how it goes,
that monogamous social structures are one of the ways that you keep
children
raised properly so that they have a relatively stable environment
and that you keep male aggression, especially the aggression of young men, under some degree of social control.
It's not a mystery.
The fact that I got in trouble for that, it's kind of a miracle. It's like, well,
don't you notice that
we enforce monogamy in almost every way?
And that the same thing happens all over the world
in all sorts of diverse societies?
And that when we deviate from that
that there's a price to be paid?
So that why I'm a New York Times pariah
is because I think that monogamy, all things considered,
is a good idea.
OK, fine
 
