When did marriage become such a sham to so many people?
413626
Amen sister! lol I was thinking I was the only one who felt that way. I married my husband for life....and it is the best relationship ever because I know his vows were sincere too...Seems like no one wants to work at relationships these days...I think its too many TV shows that show love and romance as all fun and games and break ups as nothing major...people have no idea how great it is to have a best friend, a spouse, and a lover all in one!
590416
Probably true, because people don't take the time to get to know each other before either getting married or hopping into the sack.  Most importantly however, is that they are not committed to each other and to the marriage.  A little bit of trouble comes & they say, "hey, it's not worth it, I'm moving on" instead of working out the problems.
23886
It might lead to it in the long run, polygamists might eventually get the court precidence if gay marriage goes through. Legally speaking, it could easily happpen. There really hasn't been "homosexual marriage" in history, but there have been hundreds of societal examples of it being extremely common, and expected, valued, and practiced - the greeks, the spartans, the japanese, etc. It has only been considered 'unnatural' in some western cultures over the past 1,000 years or so. In many cultures, it has only become 'unnatural' in the last 200 years or less, and that is simply because of Western ideals being imported.
599804
There is a fundamental change in the thinking of Americans.  It used to be a country where people thought of others before they thought of themselves.  Where a person was willing to give of himself to help a stranger or more importantly, someone they knew.  Where Family came first before anything else.\n\nNow Americans look out for "Number 1".  They think of themselves before their spouse and some times before their own children.  I see so many selfish people these days that I'm sick of it.  \n\nIt is that attitude that brings down most marriages in America.
82365
Well, i am not particularly a fan of it, but i dont necessarily think itsa bad thing either. The idea of it is marry first, fall in love later.  Iprefer to find my own mate, because if the marriage fails, then it was my fault and atleast i can say, i did love him and for all the went wrong, look at what went right.  When the marriage is aranged and fails, then the tendency to harbor blame and anger exists.  But i think in a way, it still exists all over the world, even in USA.  Being set up  on blind dates, meeting ppl through friends...etc are all formsof arrangements, just not so final.
727556
I honestly believe that the reason there are so many divorces is because people get married when they are in the "honeymoon phase" of their relationship, have a fairtale wedding, and then expect a fairytale wedding.\nPeople need to realize that true love is when you love a person completely, including their faults.  \nI think people expect their partner to change or something to happen once they get married, or many times they don't even know their partner's irritating habbits.\nI think it is important to realize no matter how much you love someone and how great your relationship is, when you live with someone you see everything about them, and it isn't always what a person expects.\n\nA relationship obviously changes throughout the years a couple is together.  People change and mature and things that were important to us as children get put on the back burner.\nDoes that mean a relationship is better or worse?   No.
400390
Yes, because standards in today's society are not emphasizing the fact that you should be married to have sex. Everything is much more free-spirited, and do whatever you want kind of attitudes.
20270
If you're asking whether societally people are still expected to find one person and marry them, then I would say that it applies less so than in the past, but marriage and a family is still what is generally expected by people. Certainly, people who choose not to marry are not as unusual as they once were, and it's more accepted to be unmarried. As proof, the words "Old Maid" and "Spinster" have virtually disappeared from the lexicon. \n\nIf you're asking if humans in general want to marry for life now like they used to, I do think the desire is still there, perhaps primally, in most people. As long as you find someone you truly love, it's natural to want to cement that person into your life with the convienient institution of marriage. I think fewer people just get married because they feel like they "have to" nowadays, however.
235132
because it is unnatural , and you can't say it has been around as long as heterosexuality, if you read the history you will find that it came around when the sexual cantact between men and women was restricted by religion. If people like you don't encurage it and it was punishable by law, there would be no more gay people around.
827658
People get married out of loneliness, and later find out they are not compatible with their spouse.
162359
The destruction of the traditional family.  Too many divorces and too many children born out of wedlock.
323747
It has only been until recently that women had some liberty in choosing their companion. In ancient times, marriage used to be arranged a great deal of time before it was actually contracted, and it usually involved the union of a young man in one family as the focal point. Since women used to have much less rights, they were only considered accessories ( especially in arabic and ancient judaism ). In a way, WHO the woman was didnt mattered, she was only there to ensure the young men would have a wife to give him children ( preferably sons ) to continue the family lineage. So it was not uncommon for a family to arrange marriage for their son with a very young or even not yet born daughter of another family with whom they wanted to conclude an alliance.  And since a man could not socially contract marriage before he was able to support a family, it usually take some time before the arrangment took effect. It was frequent in those ancient times to see a 14-16 years old girl married to a 30,40+ years old man.\n\nAnother factor, that also comes from the old days, was that death during delivery was a common thing, and since women had many children back then, it was not an extraordinary thing for a man to lose his while while she was giving birth ( example: suppose that with hygien conditions there was a 10% chance of death in delivery, and suppose a woman would have seven children in her life... not good odds... ). Since at that time, the family man had to work to feed and provide for his family, he could not bother to stay home to care for them, so he contracted a new marriage for the purpose of continuing the work of the old one.\n\nWhen for some reason, a husband died before the wife, since the woman was not considered his equal, she did not really have a choice. She was either to widow out and take care of the family, or to remarry with someone else - and usually that meant an older man, in order to perpetrate the social stereotype.\n\nthis is why we find "odd" to see a younger man with an older women. It is not culturally natural as a "normal" union, so we ASSUME it must be either for a) money or b) sex, two reasons that are considered bad for making a union.\n\nI hope it helped :)
434115
People seem to think if gay marriages occur it will somehow ruin the sanctity of the institution.  They also seem to think the ethics of the world will go to pot.  I think that's crap, though.  Straight people have been ruining marriage for years.  And, homosexuality is there, marriage or not, it won't increase the amount of gay people or anything like that.
24361
It is different for everyone. Some people are not out to be married just to be married, but they find someone they love, and decide they want to be with that person forever. Some are scared of ending up alone. Some people do it because it seems like the thing to do, the next logical step in your life. I knew a guy who did just that. He had a long time girlfriend, he graduated college, and just fell into the pattern he thought would be normal. It did not last though. Marriages should be based on love and trust, not a fear of being alone.
663465
I agree with you 100%. It is very sad to think that these people are missing out on the privilages of marriage just because of some moral objection to their lifestyle. I was under the impression that there was a separation of church and state in this country.
463993
Because society used to frown upon having children out of wedlock that it used to shame a family if there was such a scandal,(That's why it is such an insult to call someone a bastard) now a days, society is so moral less, there are all sorts of bastards around, but its no Politically Correct to call them that anymore.
635819
When teenagers got married (ie the Middle Ages), the average person didn't live past thirty-five.  Teen pregnancy was NOT rare, because most teenagers were married and popping out kids on a regular basis (due to ineffective or non-existant contraception).  In the Middle Ages, teen marriage wasn't necessarily good, but it was necessary for population growth.\n\nI don't think there is a statistical connection between teen marriage and quality of life.  At the time when teen marriage was common, things like television, radio, Internet and "weapons of mass destruction" didn't exist.  Similarly, universal education, women's sufferage and environmentalism also didn't exist.  Societal changes and differences between then and now are not caused by marriage, but rather changes in technology that have led to longers lives and higher standards of living.