"influences
individual identity
and determines
circles of intimacy"
acts as a boundary of
privacy
"marriage can be
imagined as setting this
boundary and providing
private liberty inside it"
private realm of family
life which the state
cannot enter
a private choice
public
at the same time that any
marriage represents
personal love and
commitment, it
participates in the public
order"
"prohibiting
divergent
marriages has been
as important in
public policy as
sustaining the
chosen model"
"to be marriage,
the institute
requires a public
affirmation"
"the laws of
marriage must play
a large part in
forming 'the
people'. they sculpt
the body politic"
today, the state decides
who can and cannot marry
which affects categories of
gender, race and class
the state decides
whether or not a
marriage can be
terminated
(divorce laws)
state confers
economic benefits to
married couples
1960's
birth control
mass marketing enabled sex to be
separate from pregnancy
severing link between
sex and marriage
second wave feminism,
civil rights movement, gay
liberation
changed the culture of marriage
what it meant
who could marry who
the freedom to live
together before
marriage
no fault divorce
marriage and
gender
"holding individuals'
self-understanding,
opportunities and constraints,
marriage uniquely and
powerfully influences the way
differences between the sexes
are conveyed and symbolized"
(marriage) is the vehicle
through which the apparatus
of the state can shape the
gender order