[7luminaries]

It's one thing to take in a single mum or widow in ancient times out of social duty since there were no social services at hand. But it's another to do so when you've already a wife (or several). And it's yet another to do so even if as a single man, your shelter of her is conditional on your penetration of her.

These are the reprehensible, vile, distasteful aspects of our past...and, oh that's right, our present as well in many countries and cultures round the globe. In many ways, Western culture cannot be excluded, either, since many women in the West have essentially prostituted (and found they were required to prostitute) themselves repeatedly up front to try to find a partner and thus make a family &/or obtain financial support for themselves and/or their children.

Likewise, having to be shared between two gents is also a pretty loathesome situation for a woman to be in, but we can find this where there is an extreme shortage of women (usually due to female infanticide, high rates of morbidity in pregnancy and childbirth, and so forth).

In many of these situations, they are made culturally "acceptable" by women's much lower social status and are then imposed onto women by force. In non-Western cultures, there are often no alternatives and the outcome (forced marriage, forcing a woman into polygamy or as noted here even onto multiple men) is generally unavoidable, often on pain of death.

As women gain social status and the security and freedom from violence that accompany greater social parity, they would nearly always avoid these inherently dehumanising and exploitative situations if at all possible.

Peace & blessings
7L