That whole "marriage" thing....
Fearless Diva mentioning the above reminded me that I tried to reply to a more pertinent comment on the same subject recently but couldn't get the whole password/username thing going, so I was going to reply today but it would have been pretty tangential to what she was actually saying so I thought I'd put it on here where no one will disagree because no one reads it....
I'm married. I'm also reasonably interested in political theory particularly the Rousseau (ian) idea of a Social Contract. Which begs the question when us married folk are contiually being told how square, hidebound and generally browbeaten by society we are and not hip and free like our unmarried (and of course homeless (the women) and without any legal rights over there own children (the men) come the seperation) hip "partner" friends why aren't we (the married ones) all jumping up and down for joy because other people wish to affirm the same social contract that we did (or religous one which I also have leanings toward). A social contract in particular only exists if society reinforces it I think marriage is both a "good thing" and socially important and we demean its importance if we deny people the right to participate in it - and whats more a) marriage is not just about children thank you very much I have children too but I consider my relationship with my husband to be as important and not simply an adjunct to our relationship with them and b) anyway some gay couples have children and plenty of heterosexual couples don't (which is I know obvious but obviously not so obvious that people don't keep banging on about "marriage and children..")
Still want to know what "exanimate" means
I'm married. I'm also reasonably interested in political theory particularly the Rousseau (ian) idea of a Social Contract. Which begs the question when us married folk are contiually being told how square, hidebound and generally browbeaten by society we are and not hip and free like our unmarried (and of course homeless (the women) and without any legal rights over there own children (the men) come the seperation) hip "partner" friends why aren't we (the married ones) all jumping up and down for joy because other people wish to affirm the same social contract that we did (or religous one which I also have leanings toward). A social contract in particular only exists if society reinforces it I think marriage is both a "good thing" and socially important and we demean its importance if we deny people the right to participate in it - and whats more a) marriage is not just about children thank you very much I have children too but I consider my relationship with my husband to be as important and not simply an adjunct to our relationship with them and b) anyway some gay couples have children and plenty of heterosexual couples don't (which is I know obvious but obviously not so obvious that people don't keep banging on about "marriage and children..")
Still want to know what "exanimate" means