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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 10, 2023

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I'm curious about how this relates to biblical institutions with similar qualities. There appear to be at least two things of that sort: levirate marriage, and maidservants, who would have children in the place of the other wife.

So something like this has been around for a while. That does not, of course, mean that it is great.

Levirate marriage doesn't seem related to me. The brother isn't buying anything, he's being forced to take care of the dead husband's family. Extreme, but at first glance rates the same as arranged marriages.

The maidservents thing is more on point. Might be less cruel to the child if the mother gets to raise the child as the mother, but in that case it's cruel to the wife. One of the cases where I'd also say take the L, and accept the limits of your biology.

The fact that the child counts as the offspring of the dead brother, though, seemed analogous—people having sex with the intention of having children but not intending the children to be considered theirs.