Polygamy: Encyclopedia II - Polygamy - Related terms

Polygamy - Related terms

Polygamy - Bigamy

Bigamy refers to someone who has two spouses at the same time. Many countries have specific statutes outlawing bigamy, making any secondary marriage a crime.

Note that these laws aren't limited to case of traditional polygamy, where the spouses know about each other. They also cover cases such as a man who breaks up with his wife, and without divorcing her, marries another woman. It even covers the occasional case of a man who sets up a second family with a second wife, keeping his dual marriage a secret from one or both of them. In both of these cases, the effect of these laws is to protect people from being married under false pretenses. The truth is that many states - Nevada for example - are extremely reluctant to prosecute bigamy cases and the laws remain unenforced.

Polygamy - Trigamy

Trigamy refers to someone who has three spouses at the same time.

From the legal perspective, this is just seen as two counts of bigamy.

Polygamy - Polyamory

Main article: Polyamory.

The term polyamory refers to romantic or sexual relationships involving multiple partners at once, regardless of whether they involve marriage. Any polygamous relationship is polyamorous, and some polyamorous relationships involve multiple spouses. "Polygamy" is usually used to refer to multiple marriage, while "polyamory" implies a relationship defined by negotiation between its members rather than cultural norms.

Polygamy - Poly relationship

Main article: Poly relationship.

Other forms of nonmonogamous relationships are discussed at poly relationship.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Related terms", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki