Opposition to or policies against the practice of polygamy; advocacy for monogamous marriage as the legal and social standard.
From 'anti-' (against) plus 'polygamy' (practice of having multiple spouses). The term emerged in 19th-century legal and religious discourse as monogamy became the Western standard.
Victorian moralists championed 'antipolygamy' campaigns, yet didn't see the irony in men divorcing and remarrying multiple times—they were against simultaneous marriages but not serial ones!
Opposition to polygamy has historically been framed through Western feminist critiques of women's oppression in polygamous societies, yet Western anti-polygamy campaigns also served as colonial justification and erased women's agency in negotiating such arrangements. This creates a paradox where women's rights rhetoric masked patriarchal expansion.
When discussing anti-polygamy positions, acknowledge that critique can be both legitimate (regarding consent and equity) and complicit in colonialism. Specify which harms you're addressing rather than treating all polygamous arrangements as monolithically oppressive.
["opposition to non-consensual polygamy","advocacy for spousal equality in marriage structures","critique of coercive plural marriage"]
Women in polygamous societies have fought for reforms from within; their leadership and agency in defining marriage equity should be centered, not treated as objects of Western rescue narratives.
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