Close relationships

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Monogamy is the custom or condition of having only one mate in a relationship, thus forming a couple. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos, which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos, which means marriage or union. Serial monogamy is having no more than one sexual partner at a time but allows for multiple partners in a lifetime. Serial monogamy is characterized by a series of long- or short-term exclusive Sexual relationships entered into consecutively over the lifespan In western culture serial monogamy is common; evidence of this is high divorce rates. Serial monogamy is characterized by a series of long- or short-term exclusive Sexual relationships entered into consecutively over the lifespan

Animals

Mating system

Main article: Animal sexuality

Monogamy is one of several mating systems observed in animals. Animal sexual behaviour takes many different forms even within the same Species. The amount of social monogamy in animals varies across taxa, with over 90 percent of birds engaging in social monogamy but only 7 percent of mammals engaging in social monogamy. The incidence of sexual monogamy appears quite rare in the animal kingdom. It is becoming clear that even animals that are socially monogamous engage in extra-pair copulations. Promiscuity refers to sexual behavior of a man or woman who casually has sex with many partners [1]

Evolution in animals

Main article: Evolution of monogamy

Socially monogamous species are scattered throughout the animal kingdom: A few insects, a few fish, a lot of birds, and a few mammals are socially monogamous. The evolution of Monogamy refers to the natural history of Mating systems in which species reproduce by forming pairs to raise offspring These species did not inherit social monogamy from a common ancestor. Instead, social monogamy has evolved independently in different species.

Bibliography

• Korotayev, Andrey (2004). Andrey Korotayev (born in 1961 is an anthropologist, economic Historian, and sociologist. World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations: A Cross-cultural Perspective, First Edition, Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 0-7734-6310-0.  

See also

• Varieties of monogamy
• Incidence of monogamy
• Value of monogamy
• Psychology of monogamy
• Evolution of monogamy

Related links

External links

• Devra G. Recent discoveries have led biologists to talk about the three varieties of Monogamy: social monogamy sexual monogamy and genetic monogamy The incidence of monogamy refers to the frequency with which monogamy occurs The value of monogamy refers to people's views about the contributions Monogamy makes good or bad to individual and social well-being The psychology of monogamy deals with the thoughts feelings and behaviors that commonly occur in monogamous relationships The evolution of Monogamy refers to the natural history of Mating systems in which species reproduce by forming pairs to raise offspring For other uses see Love Affair or Scandal An affair may refer to a form of nonmonogamy, to Infidelity or to Adultery. Animal sexual behaviour takes many different forms even within the same Species. Cohabitation is when people live together in an emotionally- and/or physically- Intimate relationship. Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the termination of a Marriage. Fluid bonding is the practice of Sexual partners who explicitly choose to expose themselves to each other's Bodily fluids The usual motivating factor is greater Nonmonogamy is a Blanket term covering several different types of Interpersonal relationship in which some or all participants have multiple marital, Group marriage is a form of polyamory in which more than one man and more than one woman form a Family unit with all the members of the group marriage being considered Human bonding refers to the development of a close Interpersonal relationship between family members or friends NOTICE TO WOULD-BE ROMEOS ************** In Sociobiology and Behavioural ecology, a mating system is any of the ways in which animal societies are structured in relation to sexual behavior Open marriage typically refers to a Marriage in which the partners agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded as Polyamory (from Greek el πολυ meaning many or several and Latin la amor “love” is the desire practice or acceptance of having more than one Polyfidelity is a form of polyamorous Group marriage wherein all members consider each other to be primary partners and agree to be sexual only with other members The term polygamy (a Greek word meaning "the practice of multiple marriage" is used in related ways in Social anthropology, Sociobiology, and Serial monogamy is characterized by a series of long- or short-term exclusive Sexual relationships entered into consecutively over the lifespan Swinging, sometimes referred to as the swinging lifestyle, is "non-monogamous sexual activity treated much like any other social activity that can be experienced as a Kleiman - Monogamy in mammals http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=857268&dopt=Abstract

• U. Reichard, C. Boesch(Eds. ): Monogamy: Mating Strategies and Partnerships in Birds, Humans and Other Mammals: Review. Cambridge University Press, 2003

• Miranda M. Lim, Zuoxin Wang, Daniel E. Olazábal, Xianghui Ren, Ernest F. Terwilliger und Larry J. Young: Enhanced partner preference in a promiscuous species by manipulating the expression of a single gene. Nature 429 (17 June 2004), 754–757. Events 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II ( The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again "

• "The Virtues of Promiscuity" by Sally Lehrman http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13648 - on studies showing social and genetic benefits of promiscuity
• The Myth of Monogamy