Currently, by definition and tradition, we are living in an American society that sees itself as predominantly monogamous. However, this monogamous society has increasingly been filled with cheating, unfaithful, and overall promiscuous individual. As of today, 57% of American males and 54% of American females, admit to committing infidelity in any relationship they’ve (Glass) So what exactly happen to the ideology of monogamy in America? What has happen to the system of having only one partner at any specific time? Is monogamy really dying, or is it already six feet under in today’s society? Some may argue that America was never truly a monogamous society and thus monogamy isn’t dying but merely less represented. On the other hand, people argue that one can do as they please and if being in a non-monogamous relationship makes them happy, to each their own. My own view is that monogamy is facing a dying role in American culture. Non-monogamous practices have grown to become a visible part of today’s American society. This paper will look at why monogamy is important, the reason it’s dying and why it needs to be placed back in the spotlight.
Beside the social stigmatism to polygamy, monogamy has many benefits for the human race. Although some may argue, as humans, we aren’t exactly designed to be a perfectly monogamist species, it my personal opinion that we have the adept skills to make monogamy work and be a valuable way of life. Of the about 4,000 mammal species on Earth, only a few dozen form lifelong monogamous pair bonds (Jeffries). That equates to approximately 3% of all mammals participating in monogamous activities. Professor Roger Rubin reports in his paper “Alternative Family Lifestyles Revisited …Communes”?, family...
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...ly has happen to monogamy in America? Is it dead, dying, or alive and well? Based on the facts of the time, overall, monogamy is dying in the American society. As best stated by Rosie Wilby “monogamy is not dead, but it's on a life-support machine” (Wilby). Non-monogamous practices are more present in today society than ever before in American history. The rise of such practices is for a variety of reasons such as, but not limited to the, change in the way the media and how society views this topic. It is however, time to get back to the core values of monogamy in America. We need to revert back to the ways of the past. A past where individual had only one partner at one time. For the greater good of society we need to get back to living as couples and raising our children together as if we were birds. Non-monogamous practices have no place in my views of America.
Claude Fischer the author of Sweet Land of Conformity erroneously makes the claim that, “Our culture consists that if you marry… you are signing an explicit or implicit contract to cooperate and conform.” We feel that as Americans, people tend to stray from this ideal; this is portrayed through divorce and infidelity. In today’s corrupt society, when you marry, you are expected to be loyal based on an, “explicit or implicit contract.” But as time goes by and people become less interested and involved with their partners, we see that this claim is not true. The twisted love triangle that occurred between Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, and Brad Pitt in 2005 demonstrates an example of infidelity which led to divorce. While Brad Pitt was married
“We keep putting marriage off. In 1960, the median age of first marriage in the U.S. was 23 for men and 20 for women; today it is 28 and 26. Today, a smaller proportion of American women in their early 30s are married than at any other point since the 1950s if not earlier”. People are also marrying less which is going to change the amount of men left in the dating/marriage pool when women are finally ready to start considering marriage. Even more than that men and marriage aren’t necessarily needed for to have kids anymore. As said in the article more than 40% of children are born to single mothers. Of course not all women who fall into that category chose it like to. The idea of a “nuclear family” is slowly becoming obsolete. “That gays and lesbians (married or single) and older women are also having children, via adoption or in vitro fertilization—has helped shrink the stigma against single
Monogamy is a cultural norm that dominates many modern societies, and when individuals engage in monogamous relationships, they are unconsciously conforming to historical and cultural legacies of what is perceived as love that predate their illusions of personal agency. Although anthropological records indicate that 85% of human societies have tended towards polygamy (Henrich, Boyd and Richerson 2012), the modern culture of monogamy has rapidly risen and spread in the past millennium (Senthilingam 2016). This demonstrates how an individual’s conception of a heterosexual relationship as normatively monogamous has been constructed by social forces. In addition, social forces in the form of state legislation also perpetuate and reinforce an individual’s conception of what a romantic relationship should entail. Monogamous heterosexual marriage remains to be the only form of marriage with legal recognition in many countries. An individual’s belief that a romantic relationship should culminate in marriage is hence not formed through independent thought, but rather through what is considered normative by law. Essentially, “marriage is not an instinct but an institution.” (Berger 1963, 88) because it is enabled and promoted by virtue of the law. In addition, many couples believe in
Bumpass LL, Sweet JA, Cherlin A. 1991. The role of cohabitation in declining rates of marriage. Demography 53:913 27
Polygamy is not something many Americans are accustomed to. Western culture teaches that monogamy, as opposed to polygamy, is the proper, accepted form of marriage. Western culture places that morality into it's people, often from youth.
Marriage is the legal or formally recognized union of a man and a woman, or two people or the same sex as partners in a relationship. Marriage rates in the United States have changed drastically since the last 90’s and early 2000 years (Cherlin 2004). Marital decline perspective and marital resilience perspective are the two primary perspectives and which we believe are the results from the decline. The marital decline perspective is the view that the American culture has become increasingly individualistic and preoccupied with personal happiness (Amato, 2004). The change in attitudes has changed the meaning of marriage as a whole, from a formal institution
Fletcher-Stack, Peggy. “Polygamy: Not as Rare as You May Think.” Beliefnet. Beliefnet, Inc., 2011. Web. 19 Dec. 2011. .
It is not a new thought that today’s young Americans are facing issues, problems and difficult decisions that past generations never had to question. In a world of technology, media, and a rough economy, many young adults in America are influenced by a tidal wave of opinions and life choices without much relevant advice from older generations. The Generation Y, or Millennial, group are coming of age in a confusing and mixed-message society. One of these messages that bombard young Americans is the choice of premarital cohabitation. Premarital cohabitation, or living together without being married (Jose, O’Leary & Moyer, 2010), has increased significantly in the past couple of decades and is now a “natural” life choice before taking the plunge into marriage. Kennedy and Bumpass (2008) state that, “The increase in cohabitation is well documented,such that nearly two thirds of newlyweds have cohabited prior to their first marriage”(as cited in Harvey, 2011, p. 10), this is a striking contrast compared with statistics of our grandparents, or even parents, generations. It is such an increasing social behavior that people in society consider cohabitation “necessary” before entering into marriage. Even more, young Americans who choose not to cohabitate, for many different reasons, are looked upon as being “old-fashioned”, “naive”, or “unintelligent”. This pressure for young people to cohabitate before marriage is a serious “modern-day” challenge; especially when given research that states, “... most empirical studies find that couples who cohabited prior to marriage experience significantly higher odds of marital dissolution than their counterparts who did not cohabit before marriage”, stated by Jose (2010) and colleagues (as c...
In today’s world many people have had different views and ideas on what polygamy really is, is it morally wrong? In this paper you are going to learn what polygamy is, who practices it, the affects that it has on children, wives and the husbands, risk factors, and most importantly why it is morally wrong.
In the United States, marriage is a commitment two people make for the rest of their lives. The average American marriage lasts seven years. Well over half of all marriages end in divorce (Francouer, 72). Statistics in the infidelity have rose fifty percent since the 1970s and is rising all the time. The divorce count in this country is now up to one out of every three-marriage end in divorce. Serial polygamy is a common lifestyle for those who are divorced and then become remarried. The relationship between a husband and wife should be sacred and trustworthy. Without the trust and honesty there is no marriage. Monogamy is the loving, sharing, and devoting one's self to another person for the rest of their life. Monogamy should be the most important aspect in a marriage.
Despite these notable numbers, polyamory remains misunderstood and much maligned. Largely due to our unwarranted and yet seemingly unwavering faith in the sanctity of monogamy, polygamists often feel tremendous pressure to hide their private lives, for fear of losing the respect of friends and family. By creating a stigma around having multiple partners, we as a society are committing nothing less than discrimination. Despite all of the arguments that its opponents have hurled against the lifestyle, p...
Poison flowing around us, slowly eating away at relationships, tearing apart marriages. Promiscuity is rising in today’s society. It is hurting many marriages and relationships as the rise of cheating and partners increase. Huxley’s dystopia shows how the rise of promiscuity may affect society one day. As we are coming closer to this dystopia, promiscuity is hurting families, relationships and partners already a great deal in today’s society.
The United States has experienced constant heterosexual change in acceptable social behaviors that evoke sexual relations. These changes expanding from the past half-century, which includes drastic shifts in premarital attitudes and behaviors. Shift changes in heterosexual courtship are seen from 1950’s and early 1960’s, where the standard for sexual interactions was abstinence, and intercourse was only acceptable in marriage (Perlman & Sprecher, in press), to the 1970’s. Whereas, in the 1970’s there’s a witnessed shift to a more lenient social standard, ”permissiveness with affection,” where engaging in sexual behavior was acceptable as long as the partners were fully committed to each other (Perlman & Sprecher, in press; Sprecher 1989). Sexual standards within the 21st century first decade are p...
There was a time when more smart-conscious decisions were made relating to sexual relationships. In particular, sexual relationships within a marriage. However, times have changed. The pillars that hold up our individual sexual values have started to crumble. It is estimated that two out of three marriages fail due to infidelity. This is a scary statistic considering that people believe a marriage can survive infidelity. This brings us to our first myth: Everyone has affairs.
Men and women have participated in a ritual that has been embedded in existence since the dawn of time. Beginning at young ages, humans start learning to master the art of attracting someone of the opposite sex, in hopes to find the perfect mate. Through time, there have been many ways for one to achieve the goal of finding their mate. In American culture, many different aspects have been approached regarding the discovery of “the perfect mate.” Only through technological advances and societal changes has courtship evolved into what it is today. Many traditions have been upheld regarding courtship and marriage, but if it not through time and evolution, many marriages would still be arranged, and divorce would still be nearly illegal, simply due to the fact that many people would not want to marry the first and only person they ever dated.