Gender and Sexualities: An Inquiry

Introduction—Chapter 6: Love and Marriage Bodies, genders, sexualities, marriages, property, and dowries: these are just a few of the considerations scholar Stephanie Coontz encounters in a study of “marriage.” She makes an inquiry at the roots of marriage: What is “traditional” about traditional marriage? Her findings and answers may be the most counterintuitive in the entirety of this textbook. In contemporary, Western, neoliberal life, marriage is argued as—just for some, or just for monogamous couples, or just for all people of a certain age, or just for “straight and gay” couples, or just for straight and gay couples with children, or just for those of the same religious beliefs, or just for best friends, or just for the time being, or just for … forever. As Coontz notes, this debate is just a part of the wider, worldwide historical transformation of marriage. In this cacophonous social debate, Coontz asks us to take a step back—in fact 5,000 years back, to ask: What is actually traditional about our ideal of traditional marriage? And: What are the “traditions” that are assumed to be traditional in contemporary time, in the first place? Her findings lead us to another, vital question: How is marriage and love socially constructed? Key words and phrases: overdetermined phenomenon, rights of adulthood, divorce and marriage rates, same-sex marriage, individual autonomy, love match, nonmarriage, world- historical transformation of marriage. After reading the article and defining key words and phrases, proceed to the practice assignment. Practice Assignment We ask our readers to compare Coontz’s article, “World Historical Transformation of Marriage” with Web-based content on the “marriage debate.”  Use the following key words and phrases to aid in your Web search : traditional marriage, defend marriage, sex and marriage, friendship and marriage, relationships and marriage, freedom and marriage, monogamy and marriage, satisfaction and marriage, history and marriage, civil marriage, polygamy and monogamy, natural marriage, arranged marriage.  Use the following additional Web sources to aid your research:  You will be comparing and contrasting Coontz’s assertion that most contemporary commentary on “marriage” relies on notions of a “tradition” without specifying the tradition in question. Note the various traditions Coontz considers in relation to marriage. List these traditions.  Next compare your listed “traditions” with Web sources that justify their arguments by employing narratives of “traditional” marriage.