Listening to Picturing a Meltdown, an interview with two of the authors of a comic-style book explaining what led to our economic crisis, I realized that in addition to marriage as the foundation of society, there is another myth that claims to be oh, so important to our freedom: Home ownership. It has a lot of similarities and it is tied very strongly to marriage and the nuclear family. Just like marriage, home ownership is seen as a status symbol: I own a home, therefore I am an adult. It is the next step in our becoming adults, right after … Continue reading »
Aug 162010
Despite the matrimania reflected in the fight for marriage equality, I celebrated the ruling against prop 8. I think everybody should have the right to refuse to get married – and we only have that right if we can legally marry. Plus, I don’t like it when religious groups impose their morality on the rest of us, which is what Prop 8 does. But I was struck by the singlism in the comments by David Boies, one of the attorneys arguing against Prop 8, on the Rachel Maddow show (You can also watch the video of the interview here.): We … Continue reading »
Now you can meddle in your single friends’ lives and earn money for doing so! Check out MatchCrew! Take a look at that website and notice how they are redefining meeting people (the only person you’re really interested in meeting is The One) and relationships (well, we know that one already: It’s only seepy relationship that counts). Do you enjoy helping your friends meet new people? We believe the desire to find the right partner in life is at the core of every person’s happiness, and it is a noble cause to help others to try and achieve that dream. … Continue reading »
In her 2007 essay “Gay Divorce: Thoughts on the Legal Regulation of Marriage,” Claudia Card argues that marriage is an evil institution. An evil institution consists of two foreseeable and causally linked components: “Culpable wrongdoing and intolerable harm” (30). Marriage, according to Card, meets these criteria. Spouses – predominantly women – are exposed to intolerable harm, including death, through domestic violence. The emergence of such violence was foreseeable and it is tied to the institution of marriage that the threat of violence can only be mitigate by abolishing the institution. And, finally, there are people who have the power to … Continue reading »
Jul 152010
I’ve been reading a lot about stereotypes and prejudices lately. Fifty years after Allport wrote his Nature of Prejudice, a compilation came out that reviews and updates his work. Underneath stereotypes and prejudices is the process of categorization. Allport suggested that and empirical research confirmed it. When we see something or someone, we categorize the perception – fast and unconscious. The categories are probably culturally determined, so it would be difficult to content that it’s natural, say, to categorize people by gender. Just like bones, there is no such thing as something entirely natural. But there is a process that … Continue reading »
Mar 282010
Somehow I stumbled on the World Values Survey, a cross-national survey that asks among other things “Is marriage an outdated institution?”. I don’t have time to dig into the data a whole lot but I thought I’d share some interesting things (the data is available online!): Overall, 83% of respondents think that marriage is not outdated. Indonesia is the most traditional country with 96% of the respondents disagreeing that marriage is outdated. Andorra is the most progressive country. Almost 40% think that marriage is outdated. In the US, barely 13% think that marriage is outdated. Across all countries, slightly more … Continue reading »
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