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Monogamy

A relationship of two individuals in an exclusive intimate partnership.

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Four intersecting definitions exist: genetic, sexual, social, and marital monogamy.[1] Two people who mutually agree to be each other's only intimate partner are in a monogamous relationship.[2]

Quick Facts

Etymology
Greek μονός (monos, 'one') and γάμος (gamos, 'marriage')
Contexts
  • Genetic
  • sexual
  • social
  • marital
Extrapair paternity range
0.03% to 11.8% across 11 published studies

Facts from the source article.

How it changed

Paleoanthropological estimates suggest monogamy may have started very early in human history.[3] Sexual dimorphism in Australopithecus afarensis was within the modern human range, not implying monogamy is less probable than polygyny.[4] A sharp decrease in the male-to-female breeding ratio occurred around 8,000 years ago, with 17 women per man.[5] Monogamy has appeared in traditional tribal societies such as the Andamanese and Pueblo Indians, unrelated to Christian monogamous paradigms.[6]

Analysis of genetic data shows that the practice of reproductive monogamy became more frequent between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago.[7][8] This rise in monogamy happened at the same time as the Neolithic agricultural revolution and the emergence of private property.[8][9] Men wanted to pass their land directly to their own children, so they tried to control their partners' sexual behavior.[9] For a man with living descendants, the average number of women he fathered children with was 1.5 around 70,000 years ago and 3.3 around 45,000 years ago.[10][11]

In societies organized by patrilineal clans, a conquering group could wipe out an entire male bloodline.[12]

What the maker and period sources say

A 2014 Psychology Today article states that in contemporary U.S. culture, monogamy means two people agreeing to have sex only with each other.[13] The same source notes that classical monogamy has been replaced by serial monogamy, a cycle of sexually exclusive relationships that end and restart with new partners.[13] Sheff argues that transparency matters, and consensual non-monogamy is qualitatively different from cheating.[13] A Guardian article reports that more women than men have contributed to the human gene pool since modern humans left Africa 70,000 years ago.[10]

The Guardian article gives numbers of around 25 women and 15 men breeding at the time of the first Homo sapiens migration.[10] As modern humans moved into Europe over 45,000 years ago, mothers may have outnumbered fathers by around 100 to 30.[10]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Monogamy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Reichard, "Monogamy: Mating Strategies and Partnerships in Birds, Humans and Other Mammals", Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 3–25; Reichard, "Monogamy: Mating Strategies and Partnerships in Birds, Humans and Other Mammals", Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 3–25 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Monogamy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cf. "Monogamy" in Britannica World Language Dictionary, R.C. Preble (ed.), Oxford-London 1962, p. 1275:1. The practice or principle of marrying only once. opp. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Monogamy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sexual dimorphism in Australopithecus afarensis was similar to that of modern humans", Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2003, p. 9404–9409; "Strong postcranial size dimorphism in Australopithecus afarensis: Results from two new resampling methods for multivariate data sets with missing data", Am J Phys Anthropol, 2008, p. 311–328; Dupanloup, "A recent shift from polygyny to monogamy in humans is suggested by the analysis of worldwide Y-chromosome diversity.", J Mol Evol, 2003, p. 85–97 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Monogamy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Moller AP (2003) The evolution of monogamy: mating relationships, parental care and sexual selection. Monogamy: Mating Strategies and Partnerships in Birds, Hum; Ash P, Robinson D (2010) The emergence of humans: an exploration of the evolutionary timeline . Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, West Sussex, UK;Hoboken, NJ.; "Sexual dimorphism in Australopithecus afarensis was similar to that of modern humans", Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2003, p. 9404–9409; "Sexual dimorphism in Australopithecus afarensis was similar to that of modern humans", Proc Natl en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Monogamy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Karmin, "A recent bottleneck of Y chromosome diversity coincides with a global change in culture", Genome Research, 2015-03-13, p. 459–466; O, "Neolithic culture may have kept most men from mating", Ars Technica, 2015-03-24; Diep, "8,000 YEARS AGO, 17 WOMEN REPRODUCED FOR EVERY ONE MAN", Pacific Standard, 2017-06-14 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Monogamy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: The Ethnographic Atlas, George P. Murdock (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Monogamy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dupanloup, "A recent shift from polygyny to monogamy in humans is suggested by the analysis of worldwide Y-chromosome diversity.", J Mol Evol, 2003, p. 85–97 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Monogamy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zimmer, "Monogamy and Human Evolution", The New York Times, 2013-08-02; Dupanloup, "A recent shift from polygyny to monogamy in humans is suggested by the analysis of worldwide Y-chromosome diversity.", J Mol Evol, 2003, p. 85–97 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Monogamy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Goody, "Production and Reproduction: A Comparative Study of the Domestic Domain", Cambridge University Press, 1976 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Sample, "More women than men have added their DNA to the human gene pool", the Guardian, 2014-09-24. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
  11. Wikipedia, "Monogamy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lippold, "Human paternal and maternal demographic histories: insights from high-resolution Y chromosome and mtDNA sequences", Investigative Genetics, 2014-09-24, p. 13; Sample, "More women than men have added their DNA to the human gene pool", the Guardian, 2014-09-24 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Monogamy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zeng, "Cultural hitchhiking and competition between patrilineal kin groups explain the post-Neolithic Y-chromosome bottleneck", Nature Communications, 2018-05-25, p. 2077; Guyon, "Patrilineal segmentary systems provide a peaceful explanation for the post-Neolithic Y-chromosome bottleneck", Nature Communications, 2024-04-24, p. 3243 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Sheff, Elisabeth, "Seven Forms of Non-Monogamy", Psychology Today, July 22, 2014. facts only, no text reused. psychologytoday.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Monogamy (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Sexual selection, Mating, Polyandry

More in Relationships And Human Sexuality

NudityOral sexOrgasmPolygamyPromiscuityProstitutionRomanceSame-sex relationshipSex educationSexual attractionSexual fetishismSexual intercourse

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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