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pp 186:
Incidentally, the polygyny threshold leads me to ask the question In whose interest is it that polygamy be outlawed in our society? We automatically assume it is in the interest of women. But consider; it would presumably be illegal, as it is now, for people to be forced to marry against their will, so second wives would be choosing their lot voluntarily. A woman who wants a career would surely find a ménage à trois more, not less, convenient; she would have two partners to help share the chores of child care. As a Mormon lawyer put it recently, there are "compelling social reasons" that make polygamy "attractive to the modern career woman." But think of the effect on men. If many women chose to be second wives of rich men rather than first wives of poor men, there would be a shortage of unmarried women, and many men would be forced to remain unhappily celibate. Far from being laws to protect women, antipolygamy statutes may really do more to protect men.

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