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Marital Correspondence

James Daybell

in Women Letter-Writers in Tudor England

This chapter surveys correspondence between spouses, emphasizing the variety and complexity of marital experience, and examining the effects on letters as a source of rising female literacy and ... More

This chapter surveys correspondence between spouses, emphasizing the variety and complexity of marital experience, and examining the effects on letters as a source of rising female literacy and greater epistolary privacy between partners. It stresses that letters reveal the widespread existence of emotional as well as social, economic, and political bonds within marriage, and indicate mutual favourable expectations of conjugal relationships. Allied to this, it argues that correspondence was not merely a pragmatic way of conducting business and conveying information, but in fact performed more privy and intimate functions, and assumed emotional significance. This chapter also assesses the extent to which restrictive gender codes of female behaviour were enforced in practice, mapping the location of power within marital relationships and the scope of wives' activities and interests. Finally, it highlights the differences between husbands' and wives' letters: husbands more frequently articulated emotion and affection in their correspondence than did wives.Less

Introduction: Reassessing Late Medieval Romance

Rosalind Brown‐Grant

in French Romance of the Later Middle Ages: Gender, Morality, and Desire

This chapter examines how traditional negative assessments of the historical climate and culture of the late middle ages in France ever since the time of scholars such as Johan Huizinga, have led to ... More

This chapter examines how traditional negative assessments of the historical climate and culture of the late middle ages in France ever since the time of scholars such as Johan Huizinga, have led to the neglect and disparagement of romances produced in this period. It argues that whilst there has been some recent revival of interest in these works, as seen in the production of new critical editions, this interest has not been matched by any assessment of how gender ideology is inscribed in such texts — a key issue in romance. It outlines the corpus of late medieval romances discussed in later chapters, all of which conform to the historico-realist type and which feature either pre-marital or marital relationships, sets out the key themes to be addressed, and explains the critical methodology to be used.Less

The Constitutionalization of American Family Law: The Case of the Right to Marry

Jerome A. Barron

in Cross Currents: Family Law and Policy in the US and England

Under the U.S. Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides in the individual and cannot be infringed by the State. Chief Justice Earl Warren protected the ... More

Under the U.S. Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides in the individual and cannot be infringed by the State. Chief Justice Earl Warren protected the marital relationship from state infringement by declaring that the individual had a constitutional right to marry free from invidious racial classifications. The constitutional cloak of protection which the Supreme Court extended to the marital relationship had a spillover in the protection of individual rights. A doctrinal bridge from the autonomy and sanctity of the marital relationship to a similar status for individual autonomy and the relationship of unmarried persons was soon constructed. This chapter discusses the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and its role in the protection of unconventional relationships in family law. It examines whether the right to marry includes the right to same-sex marriage and cites several court cases and decisions to highlight the constitutionalisation of family law in the United States.Less

Marriage

William Cornish

in The Oxford History of the Laws of England: Volume XIII: 1820–1914 Fields of Development

This chapter on marriage in the 19th century covers the values of marriage, the capacity to marry and nullification, the prohibited degrees of marital relationship, pre-contracts and religious ... More

This chapter on marriage in the 19th century covers the values of marriage, the capacity to marry and nullification, the prohibited degrees of marital relationship, pre-contracts and religious ceremony, and forms for the solemnization of marriage.Less

The Legal Regulation of Adult Domestic Relationships

Kenneth Mck Norrie

in Mixed Jurisdictions Compared: Private Law in Louisiana and Scotland

This chapter examines the legal regulation of adult domestic relationships to illustrate how, in Scotland and Louisiana, social changes led to the parallel development of domestic legal rules in ... More

This chapter examines the legal regulation of adult domestic relationships to illustrate how, in Scotland and Louisiana, social changes led to the parallel development of domestic legal rules in these jurisdictions for much of the twentieth century. It shows that towards the end of that century, and throughout that part of the twenty-first already experienced, the legal response to contemporary social shifts in how family life is led has diverged widely in these two jurisdictions. Yet the social phenomena of family breakdown and reconstitution, and of non-marital relationships, are increasingly common in both Scotland and Louisiana, and further legal change is inevitable as a response to the pressures created by these phenomena. The long-term maintenance of the present state of divergence is certainly not an historical inevitability — it is not even, particularly likely.Less

Sheep without a Shepherd; or, What Women Experienced

Karin E. Gedge

in Without Benefit of Clergy: Women and the Pastoral Relationship in Nineteenth-Century American Culture

The diaries and correspondence of two dozen northern Protestant women offer little evidence of a close bond with a pastor unless the pastoral relationship became a marital relationship. Despite ... More

The diaries and correspondence of two dozen northern Protestant women offer little evidence of a close bond with a pastor unless the pastoral relationship became a marital relationship. Despite expressions of admiration for an occasional “good sermon” or a “dear pastor,” women expressed disillusionment and disappointment when pastors failed to offer effective spiritual support from the pulpit or in person in times of need. Few reported any face-to-face religious conversations with pastors; those who did recorded responses ranging from surprise to embarrassment to frustration to outrage. Cultural constructions of gender difference imposed distance in the pastoral relationship, whether women expressed it as reverence for the minister as an “ambassador of Christ,” or inchoate resentment of masculine privileges and shortcomings, or a fear of rejection, or a troubling recognition of their own romantic desire or jealousy.Less

‘What’s marital status got to do with it?’: gender inequalities in economic resources, health and functional abilities among older adults

Carin Lennartsson and Olle Lundberg

in Health inequalities and welfare resources: Continuity and change in Sweden

This chapter aims to investigate whether present marital relationship and variation in lifetime resources contribute to economic and health inequalities between older men and older women. It studies ... More

This chapter aims to investigate whether present marital relationship and variation in lifetime resources contribute to economic and health inequalities between older men and older women. It studies how economic resources, health problems, and the functional consequences of health problems vary between men and women according to marital status. It analyses the extent to which differences in economic resources contribute to gender and marital status differences in health and functional ability.Less

Marriage within Scottish culture

Katie Barclay

in Love, Intimacy and Power: Marriage and Patriarchy in Scotland, 1650–1850

This chapter provides the institutional and cultural context for marital relationships in Scotland, highlighting how the Church, State and popular culture created a patriarchal context for marriage ... More

This chapter provides the institutional and cultural context for marital relationships in Scotland, highlighting how the Church, State and popular culture created a patriarchal context for marriage that helped frame the nature of the marital relationship in Scotland. This framework informs how people negotiated marital relationships. As in most of Europe, patriarchal social relations underpinned all forms of human interaction in Scotland through the seventeenth and into the late nineteenth century. A male head of household presiding over his subordinates, which included his wife, resident adult offspring, young children and servants, was the ideal form of household and the very basis of the social order. Symbolically, the conjugal relationship was the epitome of patriarchy, which all other social relationships, including that of king and subjects, should emulate. The ideal marriage featured a benevolent husband who offered wise and kind rule to his obedient wife.Less

The Effects of Sex Steroids in Humans: Activating Effects

Jacques Balthazart

in The Biology of Homosexuality

This chapter argues that sexual motivation in humans and animals is essentially the result of the action of sex steroids on the brain and in particular on preoptic, hypothalamic, and limbic ... More

This chapter argues that sexual motivation in humans and animals is essentially the result of the action of sex steroids on the brain and in particular on preoptic, hypothalamic, and limbic (amygdala) regions. Philosophical or social contingencies have an important role in determining whether the individual will adopt a behavior in agreement with this motivation. Religious or social prohibitions can, for example, prevent an individual from having an extra-marital relationship. Here cortical activity takes precedence over the impulse originating in hypothalamic or limbic areas, but the motivation remains. Innumerable literary works examine the conflict between the sex drive and social prohibitions consciously managed by the cortex. This motivation is also modulated by many other factors (e.g., lack of sexual desire in a situation of stress), but the main determinant remains hormones in humans and animals. Many arguments support this thesis.Less

The Ending of Relationships by Death: The Financial Consequences

Stephen Cretney

in Family Law in the Twentieth Century: A History

Far more marriages end by death than divorce. But English law has traditionally adopted the principle of freedom of testation. What should happen if a testator’s will makes inadequate provision for ... More

Far more marriages end by death than divorce. But English law has traditionally adopted the principle of freedom of testation. What should happen if a testator’s will makes inadequate provision for family and dependants? Many people do not leave wills: the law prescribes how their property should be split up in that case. Only in 1938 did Parliament legislate to give the court powers to override the terms of a valid will or the statutory provisions for intestate distribution; but these proved inadequate to deal with the situations which could arise — especially post-World War II for non-marital families and in situations involving more than one marriage.Less

From Uplift to New Negia Marriages: Changing Ideals of Sexuality and Activism in African American Marriages, 1890–1940

Anastasia C. Curwood

in Stormy Weather: Middle-Class African American Marriages between the Two World Wars

At the turn of the twentieth century, African Americans developed changing attitudes toward marriages. This chapter explains how ideals of marriage and sexuality changed after World War I. ... More

At the turn of the twentieth century, African Americans developed changing attitudes toward marriages. This chapter explains how ideals of marriage and sexuality changed after World War I. Middle-class African Americans developed a project of racial uplift designed to illustrate that the marital relationship itself helped lift the race: black people could be sexually moral and support spouses engaged in accomplishing different forms of race work. The chapter also discusses how the proliferation of literature and popular culture created by African Americans in the 1920s and 1930s reshaped attitudes toward marriage.Less

Love and Trouble in Interwar Marriages

Anastasia C. Curwood

in Stormy Weather: Middle-Class African American Marriages between the Two World Wars

This chapter delves into the interactions of public and private life, and the role of intimacy and sexuality in maintaining marital relationships. It demonstrates how history and individuality became ... More

This chapter delves into the interactions of public and private life, and the role of intimacy and sexuality in maintaining marital relationships. It demonstrates how history and individuality became embroiled in the tumultuous marriage of the Curwoods. The chapter also pays particular attention to human emotion and experience, which are not exclusively defined by race and racism.Less

Introduction

Anastasia C. Curwood

in Stormy Weather: Middle-Class African American Marriages between the Two World Wars

This book presents stories of interwar African American married couples. Studying black marriages from the inside out, it probes the inner lives of African Americans during the interwar period and ... More

This book presents stories of interwar African American married couples. Studying black marriages from the inside out, it probes the inner lives of African Americans during the interwar period and highlights the heterogeneity of those lives. Arguing that marital relationships are interlinked with public and private pressures, the book also demonstrates how these public–private tensions played out in racial identity, class identity, gender roles, emerging social sciences, northern and urban migration, economics, and sexuality during the interwar period.Less

Creating “Similar” Others at Transnational Matchmaking Agencies in Japan

Chigusa Yamaura

in Marriage and Marriageability: Marriage and Marriageability

This chapter explores the lived experiences of Japanese men at transnational marriage agencies and asks how they came to view Chinese women as marriageable. It focuses on the ways marriage brokers ... More

This chapter explores the lived experiences of Japanese men at transnational marriage agencies and asks how they came to view Chinese women as marriageable. It focuses on the ways marriage brokers and male clientele at transnational marriage agencies actively worked to reconceptualize these Japanese–Chinese marriages. The participants in these marriages were aware of the stigma attached to Japanese–Chinese marriages and sought to legitimate their own intimate relationships as ordinary marriages between two “similar” people. So while the spouses might come from different cultural, economic, and linguistic backgrounds, male participants in these marriages frequently described their transnational marital relationships as “not that different” from other domestic marriages, as well as other forms of partnerships resulting from matchmaking in Japan. The chapter looks at how male participants frame their own relationship as an “almost” endogamous marriage.Less

The Age of Division

Naomi Cahn and June Carbone

in Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture

This chapter focuses on how the age at family formation mirrors the different ideals of the red and blue families. According to research, adults use their amygdala which is the evolutionary older, ... More

This chapter focuses on how the age at family formation mirrors the different ideals of the red and blue families. According to research, adults use their amygdala which is the evolutionary older, emotion center of the brain in decision-making processes, while teens use their frontal cortex, the evolutionary newer, reason center of the brain which is not as efficient. That being said, the red family couples enter adulthood earlier through the assumption of parental roles due to its higher teen birth rates, therefore they need more support in raising a family. On the other hand, the blue family's delayed-marriage ideal provides the couples with greater room for emotional maturity and financial independence before entering into life-long commitments. This chapter elaborates the differences between the red and blue paradigms within the context of the current changing economy and its impact on marital relationships throughout the country.Less

The Everyday Challenges of Upward Mobility: Class Identity and Married Couples

Anastasia C. Curwood

in Stormy Weather: Middle-Class African American Marriages between the Two World Wars

This chapter explores the ways that class, work, and skin color affected marital relationships, and how couples arranged the economic and social capital of their households to maximize upward ... More

This chapter explores the ways that class, work, and skin color affected marital relationships, and how couples arranged the economic and social capital of their households to maximize upward mobility. It explains two crucial markers of class status—skin color and male breadwinning—and then describes how both markers played central roles in the marriage of the Curwoods.Less

Madness and Marriage

in ‘The Most Dreadful Visitation’: Male Madness in Victorian Fiction

The Victorian period witnessed a great deal of controversy and — eventually — legislation concerning marriage. The implications of the legal position and the consequences in terms of human ... More

The Victorian period witnessed a great deal of controversy and — eventually — legislation concerning marriage. The implications of the legal position and the consequences in terms of human relationships were explored in many novels, several of which concern the way in which madness develops in response to stresses in the marital relationship. This chapter examines novels where it is the husband that goes mad: Griffith Gaunt (1866), He Knew He Was Right (1867–68), Sowing the Wind (1867) and The Fatal Three (1888), but it also considers one novel that concerns female madness, St Martin's Eve (1866).Less

Family, Identity, and the Individual in India

Nandita Chaudhary and Shashi Shukla

in Psychology: Volume 2: Individual and the Social: Processes and Issues

As a universal social institution, the family has always attracted much academic interest in multiple areas of study. This chapter examines the theory of family and explores family life in India. In ... More

As a universal social institution, the family has always attracted much academic interest in multiple areas of study. This chapter examines the theory of family and explores family life in India. In order to provide an account of the Indian family in its multiple manifestations with its due place in academia, a critical examination of various theoretical perspectives on family is offered. It is argued that the empirical research on Indian families as settings for the care of children—its most important function—can be used to develop a theoretical framework to study families worldwide. By applying the varieties of family structures observed, it is argued that the predominantly one-adult, one-child paradigm, which is the foundation for mainstream developmental psychology, is found in only a few families. Thus, findings of research on Indian families can inform mainstream theory and discourse about family structure and function, and make an important contribution.Less