What’s love got to do with it? For most of the long history of the wife, not very much.
Women married for other reasons: economic support, cementing relationships between their families or tribes, to have children, to counter loneliness or to be like all the other women. Once upon a time, women wore the title “wife” like a badge of honor. These days, many women don’t need to marry to have an income or to have children. It’s accepted, even expected, that couples will live together before marriage.
The link between love and marriage is relatively new, and some say the whole institution of marriage is dissolving before our eyes. But tell that to the young women who read inch-thick copies of Bride Magazine. Tell that to single-sex couples who want to have the state legalize their unions.
(Hosted by Judy Swallow)
Guests:
Marilyn Yalom, author of “A History of the Wife.”;
Nancy Cott, author of “Public Vows.”;
E. J. Graff, author of “What is Marriage For?”;