This is a really good summary of the history of heterosexual marriage, and a persuasive argument for how the relatively recent revolution in heterosexual marriage arraignments (re: gender roles/expectations) has naturally paved the way for gay marriage.

It’s also a good reminder of how far we’ve come in a short period of time. It’s amazing to think that in 1964 – as Coontz reminds us – an article in a journal of the American Medical Association described beating as a “more or less” satisfactory way for an “aggressive, efficient, masculine” wife to “be punished for her castrating activity” and for a husband to “re-establish his masculine identity.”

Wow.

-Nicole

 Read the full article here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/07/AR2011010706502.html