Criticism of marriage

Criticisms of marriage are arguments against the practical or moral value of the institution of
matrimony or particular forms of matrimony. These have included the effects that marriage has on
individual liberty, equality between the sexes, the relation between marriage and violence,
philosophical questions about how much control can a government have over its population, the
amount of control a person has over another, the financial risk when measured against the divorce rate,
and questioning of the necessity to have a relationship sanctioned by government or religious
authorities.
In 3! "C, #lato criticised marriage in the $epublic. %e stated that the idea of marriage was a &natural
enemy& of the &commonwealth,& aiming for its own higher unity.'()
In the industrial age a number of notable women writers including *arah +ielding, ,ary %ays, and
,ary -ollstonecraft, raised complaints that marriage in their own societies could be characteri.ed as
little more than a state of &legal prostitution& with underprivileged women signing in to support
themselves.'/) 0aomi 1erstel and 0atalia *arkisian wrote that marriage is also found to be often at
odds with community, diminishing ties to relatives, neighbors, and friends.'3) 2ccording to 3an
,oller4s &"achelor4s 2rgument&, modern marriage can be compared to the act of &forging professional
credentials.& 5ver 6! percent of them fail and therefore should be avoided similar to any high7risk
venture.'6)
Commentators have often been critical of individual local practices and traditions, leading to historical
changes. 8xamples include the early Catholic Church4s efforts to eliminate concubinage and temporary
marriage, the #rotestant acceptance of divorce, and the abolition of laws against inter7faith and inter7
race marriages in the western countries.'9)
The decision not to marry is a presumed consequence of *:ren ;ierkegaard4s philosophy. %is well7
documented relationship with $egine 5lsen is a sub<ect of study in existentialism, as he called off their
engagement despite mutual love. ;ierkegaard seems to have loved $egine but was unable to reconcile
the prospect of marriage with his vocation as a writer and his passionate and introspective
Christianity.'citation needed)
2 similar argument is found in +ran. ;afka4s <ournal entry titled &*ummary of all the arguments for
and against my marriage&=
I must be alone a great deal. -hat I accomplished was only the result of being alone.'>)
2s a high7profile couple, ?ean7#aul *artre and *imone de "eauvoir always expressed opposition to
marriage.'@) ,arriage, understood existentially, proposes to <oin two free selves into one heading, thus
denying the freedom, the complete foundation, of each self.
#resently, the high divorce rates are leading to questioning of the purpose of marriage. *ome
contemporary critics of marriage question why do governments Ain -estern countriesB continue to
support marriage, when it has such a high failure rate. 2nthropologist Cionel Tiger wrote=')
&It is astonishing that, under the circumstances, marriage is still legally allowed. If nearly half of
anything else ended so disastrously, the government would surely ban it immediately. If half the tacos
served in restaurants caused dysentery, if half the people learning karate broke their palms, if only >
percent of people who went on roller coaster rides damaged their middle ears, the public would be
clamoring for action. Det the most intimate of disasters...happens over and over again.&
*ince /!!! onwards, several -estern countries have legali.ed same sex marriage. *ome supporters of
same7sex marriage argue that, apart from offering rights to gays and lesbians, the legali.ation of same7
sex marriage might also help women in general, by dissociating marriage from traditional gender roles
and stereotypical expectations of subordination of the wife to the husband, and therefore might improve
the status of married women.'E)
In response to the passage of California #roposition // and the current controversy regarding same7sex
unions in the Fnited *tates, a group of people have banded together to boycott marriage until all people
can legally marry. The argument is that since marriage is not an inclusive institution of society, the
members of the boycott refuse to support the institution as it exists.'(!)'(()
In the -est, cohabitation and births outside marriage are becoming more common. In the Fnited
*tates, conservative and religious commentators are highly critical of this trend. They are also often
critical of present day marriage law and the ease of divorce. ?ohn -itte, ?r., #rofessor of Caw and
director of the Caw and $eligion #rogram at 8mory Fniversity, argues that contemporary liberal
attitudes toward marriage produce a family that is &hapha.ardly bound together in the common pursuit
of selfish ends& exactly as prophesied by 0iet.sche.'(/) In his +rom *acrament to Contract, -itte has
argued that ?ohn *tuart ,ill4s secular and contractarian model of marriage, developed during the
8nlightenment, provided the theoretical <ustification for the present7day transformation of 2nglo7
2merican marriage law, promoting unqualified &right to divorce& on plaintiff4s demand, one7time
division of property, and child custody without regard for marital misconduct.'(3) 2 Catholic professor
$omano Cessario, in a review of -itteGs book published in an ecumenical <ournal the +irst Things,
suggested that a solution to the current crisis of marriage in the -est, could come from the possible
revival of the sacramental marriage among Christians, thus counterbalancing 0iet.sche4s pessimism Aas
echoed by -itteB.
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