Does staying in a marriage for your partner’s healthcare benefits mean you’re using your partner? Or are you giving up your soul just to stay healthy? My friend Laurie got married a couple of months ago. I did not send her a present or even a card. In fact, the only thing I gave her […]
Relationships are hard, but they’re hard for everyone, not just you. Therapist Lyla Cicero offers her advice on how to have realistic expectations of your partner and your partnership, and how to help others in the process. 1) Act How You Feel (Within Reason): We’ve all been around those couples bickering violently in public or […]
Marriage isn’t just about making each other happy, it’s about making each other better people. Eric Sentell discusses families of origin, engaging the “crazy cycle,” and navigating conflict in a marriage. The real wonder is not how hard marriage proves to be after the honeymoon wears off, but rather that it is manageable at all. […]
Kate McGuinness married four different men all of whom had the characteristics of her mother or father. Why do so many people repeat the same mistakes? Our early childhood plays a major role in our choice of romantic partners. Dr. Harville Hendrix theorizes that “We marry the emotional image of our caregivers—both positive and […]
This was originally posted at From Two To One as part of the Last Name Project. Republished here with permission. Choosing a last name ended up meaning more to me than I thought it would. Wrapped up in this question were a host of social issues I was used to examining from afar, through hypothetical theories […]
This was originally posted at From Two To One as part of the Last Name Project. Republished here with permission. Although I am not married, I have spent years thinking about whether I am going to keep my name when I do get married. For most of my life, aesthetic has been the primary deciding point […]
Navigating her new role as a wife, feminist Ashley Lauren Samsa finally figured out that cleaning your house doesn’t automatically make you June Cleaver. The personal is political. As a feminist, this has been my mantra for years, so when I decided to get married, I wanted my marriage to reflect what an equal partnership […]
This was originally posted at The Feminist Mystique as part of the Last Name Project. Republished here with permission. Our naming story is complicated, but ultimately shallow. When we got engaged, my wife and I discussed what name we would take. Our choice of name mattered little as a signifier; we’re both Jewish and at the time enjoyed […]
This was originally posted at From Two To One as part of the Last Name Project. Republished here with permission. Upon getting married and having children, determining what to do with last names isn’t always cut and dry. Mike explains how he and his wife made their final decision. What option for last name did you […]
The cliche of men ignoring their rambling wives on the phone isn’t just tired, it’s disrespectful to both men and women. So why is an old commercial depicting just that getting so much recent attention online? The world of Reddit tends to draw witty, connected, a tad nerdy, and generally tasteful individuals to its tomes […]
This originally appeared on the Huffington Post. Republished here with permission. Where do our dreams for the perfect wedding come from? I found some answers to that tricky question recently, listening to a really smart undergraduate, Gillian Gualtera, defend her Sociology Honor’s thesis at Kenyon College. She presented some fascinating, and disturbing, answers after hundreds […]
Andrew Smiler discusses the importance of men asking for help, and why “going it alone” can only do harm. Men don’t seek therapy as often as they probably should. That’s not exactly surprising: In stereotype and caricature, we make fun of men’s unwillingness to ask for directions, to read the manual, or to call for […]
