Heterosexual Monogamous Marriage: The Key to Equal Rights for Women
Oscar Wilde once said, “Marriage is the one subject on which all women agree and all men disagree.”[1] It would appear that Wilde’s assertion is a dated one, for these days there is a large population of men who are very anxious to be married—to each other. There are also many women who reject the concept of gender roles entirely, and who strongly disagree with marriage. Wilde’s statement, though trivially given, seems to be a strong indicator of how times have changed, as homosexual marriage and other household arrangements besides that of heterosexual marriage are promoted in every sphere from religion to politics. However, it is my belief that if equal rights for women are ever to be achieved, men and women both must be overwhelmingly in agreement about the importance of marriage. Unfortunately, the promotion of heterosexual marriage has not seemed to form a part of the feminist movement or the fight for equal gender rights; in fact, some argue that the feminist movement has led society away from marriage by opening the door for homosexual marriage advocates. Yet the only way to achieve truly equal rights for women is through monogamous, heterosexual marriage, and for this reason it is the arrangement the state must privilege above all other household arrangements.
Male Domination and the Female Fight for Rights
Any discussion of gender rights necessitates an understanding of how things began. For this we must look to human history, which gives us many examples of violence in the human race, especially male violence inflicted upon females. One need look no further than human biology to understand the prevalence of male-on-female violence: physiologically, males have an undeniable advantage over females when it comes to upper body strength.[2] This physical advantage is augmented by the fact that the responsibility of reproduction renders females weaker; firstly, the male desire for sexual intercourse with the female may lead to rape, injury or even death. Secondly, the periods of pregnancy and childbirth lead to greater vulnerability and weakness in the female. Due to the historical physical domination of males over females, physical coercion of females ensured the dominance of male force over female will. This in turn led to a social order in which men were the superior beings, while women became inferior. (more…)
