This is still happening, believe it or don’t (you had BETTER believe it!!!), in the minds of some of the people, living in the most developed regions of the world.
Because his wives can’t bear him a son, he’d divorced them, one by one, and, the reason he’d found them to marry one by one, was because he’d wanted to have, a “male heir”, someone, to carry on his family’s last name…
Because his wives can’t bear him a son, he’d ordered to have their heads chopped off (like in Henry VIII???). Without EVER knowing, that he’s the problem, when all his wives (one after another!) couldn’t have a son, because of H-I-M.
Because his wives can’t bear him a son, he’d gotten rid of all of them, and, after a dozen wives later, he’s still, child-less, and, as he’d become, elderly, he looked around for someone to love, and, he couldn’t find one, even the DOGS had left him!
Life, the Obstacle Course 