Concubinage

The state of cohabitation without the full sanctions of legal marriage, concubinage is often a form of slavery in which women may be bought and sold. Their status and the legal status of their children is lower than that of the legal wife. Concubines may be bought from brothels or abducted or enticed from foreign countries. Although the historical justification for concubines was to ensure offspring, in practice most concubines were and are acquired for sexual pleasure. Concubinage is particularly the prerogative of the rich.

Concubinage still exists in Asia and in Arabia among the rich, and in Africa both among the rich and in tribal custom.