Even today in some cultures monogamy and love are not seen as a necessary part of a marriage, men or woman can seek out other needs and not be ridiculed for it It is believed mostly in Western culture that “married couples should be best friends, sharing their most intimate feelings and secrets. They should express affection openly but also talk candidly about problems and be sexually faithful to each other. Emotional happiness seems the ultimate goal. A happy marriage is defined differently throughout the world, but only recently have the emotional and sexual needs of the partners become emphasized. Sell2 This seems unrealistic when compared against a historical world view especially how Western Cultures revere marriage.
These kinds of relationships are normally voluntary and formed for an individual’s happiness rather than for the happiness of a family. This therefore means that we may expect to find differences between these cultures, especially when it comes to romantic love. Levine Et Al had studied love as a basis for marriage in 11 countries. Participants were asked whether they were willing to marry somebody who had all the qualities they desired whom they did not love. The American respondents were reluctant to marry somebody who they did not love as only 14% said that they would agree to marry.
Arranged marriages are marriages negotiated by the parents of the couples. In this kind of marriage, people sometimes are forced to marry the one that they do not love. For centuries, the only way to get married in most of cultures has been arranged marriage because it has been believed this kind of marriage makes the economic, political, social alliances stronger and firmer. Although in most Western countries people oppose arranged marriage because they think that this kind of marriage limits their personal freedom, it still occurs in parts of the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Vietnam. In Afghanistan, people usually practice arranged marriage in some ways, approximately sixty and eighty percent.
Running Head: Polygamy and Impact on Family Dynamics Polygamy and Impact on Family Dynamics Angela Addington Bakersfield College Professor Sarah King ANTH C111 ABSTRACT Growing up in the United States, people claim they are "open-minded", yet criticize the unknown. One notable example is the concept of marriage. The westernized definition of marriage is defined as the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law. However, marriage by that definition is not universally accurate. Throughout the world marriage takes various forms, from same-sex marriage to polygamous marriages, most of which are subject to criticism within the context and setting of human rights as is any structural aspect of a society.
Furthermore, this would lead to a lot of people expecting more from relationships after getting divorced, as they wouldn't want to fall victim to what cause their last marriage to end again. This is part of the high expectations people now expect from relationships. Young people may have experienced divorce or bad relationships in their life, so they do not want to fall into it themselves, making them wary of marriage. Sue Sharpe's study in the early 1970s showed that young girl's main concerns were 'love, marriage, husbands, children, jobs' in that order. When she then returned in the 90s she found that the list had flipped, with jobs and careers being in first place.
Finally, Coontz brought forth if someone is not marrying for love but just for the status then what is the point of getting married. I do agree with her about this and also, the point about the media blowing the idea of happily ever after out of proportion by just believing that only true love will hold a marriage together that is false. True love can bring people together but would not keep them together, this is something that marriages cannot solely rely on it takes hard work and dedication to keep a marriage
Almost all people think that getting married the one who he or she loves is natural. But there are some situations when someone cannot get married to him or her because it is socially unacceptable. The definition of marriage for different people means different things. Marriage has some forms, but nowadays the same sex marriage is the most discussed topic. So in this essay I’m going to compare the traditional marriage and the same sex marriage.
Different Cultural Marriage Practices and their Views Latosha Greer ANT101: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (GSF1328Q) Instructor Byars-George August 11, 2013 Different Cultural Marriage Practices and their Views Does anyone ever find their self judging another’s culture marriage practices because it is not the traditional marriage? We as people tend to do this more often than we realize. Even though we become biased towards other form of marriage and come to consider any other form wrong, marriage practices vary from culture to culture. Some believe in arranged marriages because it has been done that way for hundreds of years; some believe in having same sex marriages to achieve maximum personal benefits, and some believe in multiple marriage partners because it is traditional. Therefore, we should take a deeper look at the different culture and the reasons why they perform the different martial practices that they do because marriage exist in several different ways.
He discredits the argument that, ”marriage is fundamentally a procreative unit” (Stoddard 738). The government tries to rectify not allowing same sex marriage to be legal because marriage is supposed to be a procreative unit. People should be entitled to love and marry whomever it is that they choose. The government tries to justify their standing on gay marriage by acknowledging the fact that same sex couples would not be able to birth a child together. If this is in fact a valuable reason to prevent someone from marrying, then why doesn’t the government create a law banning all women and men who cannot or will not have children from being able to legally marry.
According to Messerli in the “Should Same-Sex Marriages be Legalized?” he observes in support to Stoddard’s argument that: One of the main arguments against gay marriage is that it would further erode family values; however, the opposite is true. The problems related to sexuality in our society such as STD's stem from carefree, frivolous lifestyles; in other words, having frequent, unprotected sex with many partners. Marriage encourages people to settle down and to give up that type of lifestyle. Married people commit themselves to one partner and work to build a life together. Isn't that the type of behavior we want to encourage?