Monogamy on the ropes?

So the sexual avant garde would have us believe. It's the oldest trick in the book.
Peter Jon Mitchell
Monday, 26 September 2011

Excerpt:
By the sounds of our cultural elite, monogamy is bruised, battered and against the ropes. Or is it?

Choosing to be monogamous may be challenging, but only in the way that many virtues are, such as honesty or generosity. This is why Princeton academic Robert P. George argues that monogamy requires cultural support to succeed as the difficult virtue that it is. Monogamy is not simply a personal lifestyle choice. In The meaning of marriage: Family, state, market, and morals (2006) George argues that monogamy’s understood value requires support in law, policy and through the informal support of other monogamous marriages within society.

Writing in support of monogamous marriage, sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox argues in a Washington Post blog that monogamy protects against unintended pregnancy outside of marriage and the risk of affecting a spouse with an STD. He states that open marriage places children at greater risk of physical, emotional and sexual abuse when they are exposed to their parent’s multiple romantic partners. Wilcox points to research that suggests that monogamy delivers greater satisfaction and emotional security than infidelity and that maintaining relationships outside of marriage takes time, money and emotional effort that would have been devoted to spouse and family. Wilcox maintains that open marriage is bad for the institution of marriage and it puts family members at risk.

The current debate around monogamy illuminates a larger issue about the meaning of marriage in the 21st century. the rest