Polygyny is highest in the agricultural societies of sub-Saharan Africa and Papua-New Guinea

Peter Frost notes that high-polygyny societies remain simple in large part because intense sexual competition keeps them from evolving into more complex entities. The surplus males stir up endless conflict, if only because war provides them with access to women, i.e., through rape and abduction. There can never be pacification and, therefore, the formation of larger, more advanced societies.