Monogamy is a recent development in the history of human evolution. It's interesting to think how many people in our society seem to take it as a given.
Some cultures never took it on and those who did seem to have done so only in the last thousand years or so.
It's being questioned a lot these days. Some argue it's a perpetuation of patriarchal society. It wasn't a thing in the days of the matriarchal goddess worshipping traditions.
There is debate around its origins. It seems to have been taken on around the same time the matriarchal lineage traditions were overtaken on masse by patriarchal ones. So the paternity of an offspring became more important and name, land and inheritance began being passed from father to son rather than mother to child.
Monogamy becomes a way to ensure paternity of the children who will be passed dow name and inheritance through the paternal line.
Then beginning with the industrial revolution women started to become more empowered within the patriarchal societies. We were given the right to vote, work, own property and now we can even keep our own names if we decide to get married or choose not to get married at all and still live a fruitful, financially viable life.
But it's clear that we still live in a patriarchal society.
Some examples of this are the traditional wedding vows which transfer the property of the woman to the man or children traditionally taking the surname of the man.
Another good example is the way our society is based on the rhythm of a 24 hour cycle which is the duration of a biological cycle of a man, rather than a typical 28 day cycle of a woman.
There are biological theories about why monogamy was taken up and they all seem quite primitive and based on fear. One example is the suggestion that it was a good way to ensure men wouldn't kill other men's children to sleep with the woman. Savage.
Perhaps monogamy is being reconsidered during these times because it is in keeping with the movement back (and forward) towards a society that honours the feminine and questions historical structures and traditions.
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