For those tending toward rational choice explanations, consider marriage from a woman’s perspective. You want to have children, security, and a meaningful life, including romance. So market yourself as a proponent of traditional marriage, get a husband, produce the kids, keep the guy around to help out during their early years, and then and only then divorce.
Benefits to you: you can be the center of attention of friends and family for a while, you can recast your self-centeredness as a heroic strike against patriarchy, you can count on income supplementation without any reciprocal obligations, and you can search for romance forever. With him out of the house you can either have weekends free while he takes care of the kids or you can shut him out forever. What’s not to like?
