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Best Relationship Configuration Poll

What type of social sexual relationship is best suited for Homo Sapiens?

  • Heterosexual monogamy

    Votes: 9 21.4%
  • Hetero or homosexual monogamy

    Votes: 1 2.4%
  • Serial monogamy (hetero and/or homo)

    Votes: 13 31.0%
  • Polygamy (one man, multiple females)

    Votes: 3 7.1%
  • Polyandry (one woman, multiple men)

    Votes: 1 2.4%
  • Multiple partners for both sexes

    Votes: 3 7.1%
  • Some other thing I'll add below.

    Votes: 12 28.6%

  • Total voters
    42

Magrat

Mrs. Rincewind
Joined
Nov 23, 2015
Messages
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Location
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Time for the next RK poll. This one partly inspired by the book I'm reading, Sex at Dawn by Ryan and Jethà.

I am not asking for an argument over social conditions. What I would like to know is, what type of social relationships do you believe humans are most suited for? Are we like our close cousins the bonobos, and suited for multiple partners? Or are we correctly pushed towards heterosexual monogamy per the Catholic church? Or shades between? I'm listing some options but because I am only one Kitten and can't predict every possibility, please feel free to add "other"s.
 
I think I'll go with "different strokes for different folks". IOW, whichever of the above suits you, is fine with me. Or for some people, asexual people for example, it could be none of the above. As long as all of the participants are consenting adults, it's all good as far as I'm concerned.
 
Another category you missed is polyamory, which could include both polygamy and polyandry and relationships with multiple males and multiple females.

I also don't see anything on the list about trans people.

I'm not trying to criticize you here, but I honestly just don't think that any of those answers is the single best "one-size-fits-all" answer. It's like arguing over the best flavor of ice cream: it's a subjective question and each person can have their own favorite flavor, so what is there to argue about. My only problem is with people who want to impose their own preferences on others, or think that their preferences should be privileged by society over those of others.
 
I'm not trying to criticize you here, but I honestly just don't think that any of those answers is the single best "one-size-fits-all" answer. It's like arguing over the best flavor of ice cream: it's a subjective question and each person can have their own favorite flavor, so what is there to argue about.

This is a poor analogy. The best flavor ice cream is mint chip. That was settled by the Great Council years ago. As for the best type of relationship, Aristotle observed the ideal age for men to marry is 37, and the ideal age for women is 18. Sounds about right to me.
 
All of the above, and more. Different arrangements work for different people. Trying to force a person who is happy with one arrangement into a different arrangement is a recipe for unhappiness and distress, or worse.
 
Total lifelong celibacy for all. Best answer to global warming, plastic in the oceans, and reality TV. That, or anything goes. Haven't made up my mind, so I'm alternating strategies.
 
"Some other thing I'll add below."

whatever is best suited to all the people involved in the relationship.

We homo sapiens *in average* tend to go toward some kind of relationship, but this is only averages. Looking at your own poll it is obvious there is no one size suit all. Most people will be fine with serial monogamy.
 
I also don't see anything on the list about trans people.

Why would there be? It's a sub-optimal condition. One could argue that transitioning is better than not transitioning for people with gender dysphoria, but it's worse to have gender dysphoria than to not have it.
 
Total lifelong celibacy for all. Best answer to global warming, plastic in the oceans, and reality TV. That, or anything goes. Haven't made up my mind, so I'm alternating strategies.

Homosexual whatevergamy would have the same result within a generation or so, and you'd at least be able to relieve your tension once in a while without going blind.
 
Monogamy for lesbians, committed but moderately open relationships for straights, and no strings free-for-all for gay men. The amount of faithful monogamy sustainable in a relationship is directly proportional to how female the relationship demographics are. A relationship that's only 50% female is unlikely yo stay utterly monogamous. A relationship that's 0% female? I wouldn't bet a Saltine cracker on that staying monogamous, and I don't even like Saltines.
 
I didn't include trans people because what I'm asking is usually based on studies of apes, and we are the only apes who have transgendered people (AFAIK).

That's a pretty damned safe bet. Even supposing a non-human ape had gender dysphoria (how could you tell?), there's not really anything they could do about it.
 

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