The Gender Nerd is now a biweekly podcast, with smart conversations about gender, sexuality, culture and power. Listen here, on Apple or on Spotify.
Over the last few years, we’ve gotten a steady stream of takes on the dire state of marriage. Less people are getting married, and some of the traditional reasons to do so - financial security, feeling of obligation, the necessity of bringing children into a settled family - are no longer as compelling. Young women, in particular, are less likely to say they want to get marry someday.
Sociologist Abigail Ocobock wondered: what about people who only recently got the right to marry at all? what can same-sex couples tell us about the power of the institution? Her study, published in the book “Marriage Material: How an Enduring Institution Is Changing Same-Sex Relationships,” found that marriage retains its cultural power - and that having the right to marry transformed same-sex relationships.
Listen to our conversation about what same-sex couples can teach all of us about the power of marriage, and about how to make it more equal.
