I think it's probably because it's usually one man married to several women rather than one woman married to several men. The women are only married to the man, not the other women, therefore it's only the guy who has married more than one person all in all.
Personally I think it's nuts, I don't want ONE wife, much less MANY! If the law really wanted to punish the guy, it should just force him marry more!
Hell - the man should get a medal for taking on more than one wife!
I still think the reason men are demonized is because of the default assumption that men are the universal perpetrator and women are the universal victim. It is not an elegant reason, but foundational bias stains all ideas in one's mind.
I think the reason is this: men, generally and in the large societal view, are seen as beings having both rights and responsibilities. Women, generally and in the large societal view, are seen as beings having
only rights. This makes a huge difference in how the two genders are viewed and held accountable (or not) for their actions. (Yes, women generally do have responsibilities, but "society" relegates them still, sort of, to what encompasses children and the home scene.) As a society, I think, we don't take women seriously out in the "real world" of what we would all agree is "life". We still pat them on the head and say, "Be a good girl, now, and go run along home and let the big people handle this." So when we as a society see women receiving lesser criminal sentences for men who commit the same crime, women who are treated specially in divorce/child custody proceedings, women who are accepted into out military/police/fire fighting forces only because the standards have been lowered considerably, etc etc, well, then, the end result shouldn't surprise too many of us, should it? :roll: