Daniel J. Pipes

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Reader comment on item: Westerners Welcome Harems
in response to reader comment: WHICH IS BETTER?

Submitted by Mary Connor (Australia), Nov 29, 2008 at 07:03

Rawi, you quoted that there were 8 million 'surplus' females in the U.S. Quite likely you are right, but you failed to say the age of these females - women tend to live longer than men and also men have a higher mortality rate than women owing to wars and doing more dangerous jobs and being m ore incllined to take risks- for example drinking too much, driving while drunk., following dangerous sports such as absailing, being suicide bombers etc.. so even though more males than females are born, many of those surplus women will be beyond childbirth age or wanting to marry again. Around marriageable age the sexes are pretty equal in number. So are some men condemned to go without a mate so that other men may have several?

Also you quote the Koran as if it was followed religiously. I understand that men should only have more than one wife if they can afford, financially ,to support others and their offspring. But this is one of the uderlying dissatisfactions some Western countries have with polygamy - that is it is the tax paying public that is doing the supporting, often of the man as well. One case in Australia, and I am sure there are many more, the ma n who along with his several wives was on welfare and living in subsidsed housing claimed he had no time to work as he had to travel between wives and take children to school etc. I am sure that this is one of the reasons that Western countries are so popular as destinations of migration for Muslims.


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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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