> Historically it's been used in a way that's profoundly imbalanced towards women (i.e. almost exclusively polygyny)

Any biologists care to chime in on this? It cuts both ways, and is more complicated than that.

I don't understand how polygamy is imbalanced toward woman. They get a stake of the alpha's attention and him providing for them. In the current system, it's AFBB. The beta male foots the bill for alpha seed.