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Polyandry
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Polyandry is against U.S. law. For people who choose to live in "nonlegal" marriage of a woman and more than one man, the law is looser. In places where sex between consenting adults is not prohibited, polyandrous groups are unlikely to be troubled by the police.
Polyandry is a controversial subject among anthropologists. For instance, Pennsylvania anthropologist Stephen Beckerman points out that at least 20 tribal societies accept that a child could, and ideally should, have more than one father, referring to it as " partible paternity ". On the other hand, in Tibet, which is the most well-documented cultural domain within which polyandry is practiced, the testimony of certain polyandrists themselves is that the marriage form is difficult to sustain. However, certain monogamist s say the same thing about monogamous marriage .
Figure 2 Polyandry has a genetic component ([R]s =.413, p =.0133; ANOVA, F = 1.914, p =.0281, N = 37 families). The size of the dots represents the sample size: the larger the dot, the bigger the sample size.
Polyandry has occurred in Tibet (see Polyandry in Tibet), the Canadian Arctic, Zanskar, Nepal, Ladakh,Jaunsar region in Uttarakhand, India, Toda of South India,the Nymba, Nishi and Sri Lanka. It is ... encountered in some regions of Mongolia, China (especially Yunnan- the Mosuo people), and in some Subsaharan African and American indigenous communities (notably the Surui of northwestern Brazil). The Guanches, the first known inhabitants of the Canary Islands, also practiced it until their disappearance. In other societies, there are people who live in de facto polyandrous arrangements that are not recognized by the law [citationneeded].
Polyandry refers to a female mating with more than one male. Although more common in eusocial Hymenoptera, polyandry is widespread across various taxa. Apis dorsata (Hymenoptera:Apidae) is here named as the most polyandrous insect because it has been recorded to mate up to 53 times, each with a different male. A blue milkweed beetle, Chrysochus cobaltinus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) female has recorded up to 60 matings, though some of these were multiple matings with the same male.
Polyandry is generally found in areas where difficult physical environments or high populations impose extreme pressures on agricultural systems. It works to limit population growth and to ensure the coherence of agricultural estates. Some theorists suggest that this institutions more often occurs in societies in which women hold relatively high social status
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