Melanie Heath
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814737125
- eISBN:
- 9780814744901
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814737125.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Marriage and the Family
This chapter examines the use of state-sponsored marriage initiative curriculum to teach the “essentials” of marriage to students. The marriage movement has focused on bringing marriage education ...
More
This chapter examines the use of state-sponsored marriage initiative curriculum to teach the “essentials” of marriage to students. The marriage movement has focused on bringing marriage education into the classroom not necessarily to teach sexual abstinence, but to provide students with the “necessary knowledge, skills, and strategies” to give them a roadmap to “build healthy relationships during their teen years and later, for those who choose it, a healthy marriage.” However, there is a tension inherent to bringing marriage education into middle and high schools: the ideal of promoting heterosexual sex solely within the bounds of marriage presents a problem for marriage advocates in dealing with changing attitudes and practices of family and marriage, such as the prolonged periods between adolescence and getting married, rising rates of cohabitation, and the growing visibility of lesbian and gay families.Less
This chapter examines the use of state-sponsored marriage initiative curriculum to teach the “essentials” of marriage to students. The marriage movement has focused on bringing marriage education into the classroom not necessarily to teach sexual abstinence, but to provide students with the “necessary knowledge, skills, and strategies” to give them a roadmap to “build healthy relationships during their teen years and later, for those who choose it, a healthy marriage.” However, there is a tension inherent to bringing marriage education into middle and high schools: the ideal of promoting heterosexual sex solely within the bounds of marriage presents a problem for marriage advocates in dealing with changing attitudes and practices of family and marriage, such as the prolonged periods between adolescence and getting married, rising rates of cohabitation, and the growing visibility of lesbian and gay families.
Melanie Heath
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814737125
- eISBN:
- 9780814744901
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814737125.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Marriage and the Family
The meaning and significance of the institution of marriage has engendered angry and boisterous battles across the United States. While the efforts of lesbians and gay men to make marriage accessible ...
More
The meaning and significance of the institution of marriage has engendered angry and boisterous battles across the United States. While the efforts of lesbians and gay men to make marriage accessible to same-sex couples have seen increasing success, these initiatives have sparked a backlash as campaigns are waged to “protect” heterosexual marriage in America. Less in the public eye is government legislation that embraces the idea of marriage promotion as a necessary societal good. This book uncovers broad cultural anxieties that fuel on-the-ground practices to reinforce a boundary of heterosexual marriage, questioning why marriage has become an issue of pervasive national preoccupation and anxiety, and explores the impact of policies that seek to reinstitutionalize heterosexual marriage in American society. From marriage workshops for the general public to relationship classes for welfare recipients to marriage education in high school classrooms, the book documents in meticulous detail the inner workings of ideologies of gender and heterosexuality in the practice of marriage promotion to fortify a concept of “one marriage,” an Anglo-American ideal of Christian, heterosexual monogamy.Less
The meaning and significance of the institution of marriage has engendered angry and boisterous battles across the United States. While the efforts of lesbians and gay men to make marriage accessible to same-sex couples have seen increasing success, these initiatives have sparked a backlash as campaigns are waged to “protect” heterosexual marriage in America. Less in the public eye is government legislation that embraces the idea of marriage promotion as a necessary societal good. This book uncovers broad cultural anxieties that fuel on-the-ground practices to reinforce a boundary of heterosexual marriage, questioning why marriage has become an issue of pervasive national preoccupation and anxiety, and explores the impact of policies that seek to reinstitutionalize heterosexual marriage in American society. From marriage workshops for the general public to relationship classes for welfare recipients to marriage education in high school classrooms, the book documents in meticulous detail the inner workings of ideologies of gender and heterosexuality in the practice of marriage promotion to fortify a concept of “one marriage,” an Anglo-American ideal of Christian, heterosexual monogamy.
