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Thing is, its also utterly unrealistic to expect extreme-high-status men to accept being alone for 40+ years OR marry someone they aren't attracted to.
How do you stop them from using their status to just override any taboos and get what they want?
I do think its a real problem when they cycle through young women and leave them less appealing for the younger guys, of course, so I agree in general.
I agree with what you say here and in many other posts.
The biggest single policy device would be to end no-fault divorce and to make adultery a crime (perhaps without incarceration time).
"Til death do you part" has to mean what it says.
Right. But the problem with relying solely on social technology is that if a high-status guy doesn't like them, he might break the norms and 'win' due to everyone else deferring to his position, as our monkey brains are wont to do.
I think the threat of eternal damnation is a necessary component we haven't figured out a replacement for.
For Henry VIII even that wasn't enough.
The only compromise position I've hit on that might align incentives is setting it so that 'marriage' is 25 year contract that can't be exited without EXTREME difficulty during that time, but can then be 'extended' if the parties choose at the end of that period.
Logic being that's enough time to raise the kids to adulthood and get them set up well.
Its not very romantic or aspirational though, so it is probably too autistic of a solution.
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