Before the next radical feminist goes ranting and raving, denouncing something as "oppressive" and "sexist" I suggest she takes 14 seconds to think about what she has to say. Obviously this is something Jenny Stepp did not do before writing her article for the Jan. 29 paper.
In her haste to find something, anything on which she could heave her misplaced, man-hating aggression, she confused a few ceremonial quirks of one type of wedding with the whole of the marital relationship. She claims that marriage is an institution that reinforces female subordination and "(operates) for the benefit of males." Furthermore, apparently society (e.g. big, bad, oppressive males) has brainwashed the poor women into believing they like this horrific situation.
Stepp is correct about just one thing: Marriage is a result of social pressure. It exists however, strictly to benefit women. Humans, especially men, are not naturally monogamous. It is not beneficial for a man, who in theory could produce an almost infinite amount of offspring with very little effort, to confine himself to one mate.
Women, on the other hand, must put an enormous amount of investment into each offspring. Moreover, unlike men, women have a limited amount of time in which to reproduce. It benefits a woman to have a partner around that can offer more resources to these few offspring.
What better way to do this than by forcing the partner into a legal contract, obligating him to do so?
If marriage was truly society's way of "maintaining the male privilege" it would be a polygamous institution, or would not exist at all. Men would not be legally bound to one mate with whom he can only have a small number of offspring. Now, I am not condoning extramarital affairs or any sort of cheating. Nor do I believe that marriage is a bad thing for men, but as far as who benefits and who is "oppressed" by this legal institution, Jenny Stepp has got it the wrong way around.
Now before you go giving me some stereotypical label so you can dismiss this whole letter, think for a bit about what I am saying. I was insulted by Stepp's article. I realize that in many ways this is still a male-dominated society, but the sacred tradition of marriage is not one of them.
Alan Hoffman
