That kind of story doesn’t assume that polygamy is nonexistent. It only assumes that polygamy is rare enough that it’s pretty unlikely as a solution. If a similar percentage of people are willing to participate in polyamory as are gay, that’s around 5%.. The odds that three random people in a love triangle, who aren’t already selected for polyamory, are all polyamorous will then be 1 in 8000. That’s small enough that the story really doesn’t need to consider and then discard the option.
Judging from how many nominally monogamous people switched to being nominally polygamous in my social circle as the social norm changed, versus how many didn’t, I strongly doubt that a plurality of the population is sufficiently exclusively and innately monogamous that considering alternatives is a waste of time.
Then again, I also doubt that 95% of the population is exclusively and innately heterosexual. OTOH, I’ve never lived in a normatively bisexual community, so I have minimal data
That kind of story doesn’t assume that polygamy is nonexistent. It only assumes that polygamy is rare enough that it’s pretty unlikely as a solution. If a similar percentage of people are willing to participate in polyamory as are gay, that’s around 5%.. The odds that three random people in a love triangle, who aren’t already selected for polyamory, are all polyamorous will then be 1 in 8000. That’s small enough that the story really doesn’t need to consider and then discard the option.
Judging from how many nominally monogamous people switched to being nominally polygamous in my social circle as the social norm changed, versus how many didn’t, I strongly doubt that a plurality of the population is sufficiently exclusively and innately monogamous that considering alternatives is a waste of time.
Then again, I also doubt that 95% of the population is exclusively and innately heterosexual. OTOH, I’ve never lived in a normatively bisexual community, so I have minimal data