Re: I wonder why?

Usually those polygamists who exclude the youth are reacting to the unavailability of enough men due to war. Some headhunting tribes do this when too many males have died for the females to find mates monogamously.

But there does seem to be a link between Polygamy and wealth. Most traditional Polygamous cultures expect that the person who can only support one spouse limit themself to one spouse. [ Allah knows, Khadijah did. ;) ]

When that culture is one where the quality of life is tenuous, allowing those with resources to care for more would be a form of charity. When life is comfortable for most, then its conspicuous consumption.

The modern obsession with eradicating Polygamy means that traditional polygamists will be pre-moderns; holdovers from an era where adulthood wasn't postponed into the middle of one's childbearing years.

Bigamy laws seem very strange indeed, as they target an adult's choice to marry whom they wish. Perhaps if they were repealed we'd see some forms of Polygamy which emerge out of modern culture.

Of course serial Monogamy, adultery and "dating-around" are all forms of Polygamy to the "no sex before marriage" and "until death do we part" crowd. So we have adapted to our bigamous impulses, just not very well.

Dante