(BTW, I'm restricting the monogamism watch to the NYT not only because that is my only source of culture, but because the point is the high proportion of marriage stories out there, not the high volume. So limiting to one prominent source makes sense.)
One series shows that marriage sucked in the fifties; several more that it sucks for yuppies. It sucks for women who can't have children, men who have children, women whose husbands don't do chores, and men who do chores.
Conclusion: let's give other relationship structures a whirl.
JK!
Viewers are advised to keep in mind that wedlock is a little like Churchill’s definition of democracy: an institution that is the worst, except for all the others.
Granted, two of the shows are about guys who wish they were married. But why do people wish they were married? Because the New York Times tells us it's happier than the alternatives. And, judging by the number of TV shows about it, because marriage is fascinating.
1 comment:
Why wouldn't alternative relationship forms just replicate the same problems, plus new problems that always inhere in innovation?
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