Dan
2008-02-07 08:33:01
Helen, of all the benefits of marriage to men which have dissipated, probably the most important is sexual abundance within the marriage. The sexual pact at the core of marriage has always included two promises: exclusivity and abundance. For thousands of years, everyone understood that it is UNFAITHFUL for a wife to significantly curtail that abundance. Suddenly, in the space of two generations or so, the dominant culture and most women have forgotten this. She who messes with abundance messes with exclusivity, and lack of sexual abundance transforms marriage into marriage-lite. Marriage-lite is an inherently weak institution. Legal disincentives to men to enter it, as you’ve discussed, simply weaken it further.
