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A Brief Note On Marriage
By Fred Moulton
The issue of same sex marriage has been a topic of increasing focus
during the past few years. Numerous court rulings, legislative
initiatives and ballot initiatives have been put forward. What I
want to focus on is not the particulars of any proposed law or
ballot proposition but rather some general points concerning the
discussion of marriage.
Historically humans have formed different marriage arrangements. If for a moment we consider just heterosexual marriages we find many arrangements including some that are not common such as:
- Polyandry consists of one woman and more than one man
- Polygyny consists of one man and more than one woman
- Group marriage consists of more than one man and more than woman
- Line marriage is a term often used to refer to a group marriage designed to continue by adding new members over time
Different marriage traditions become common in various areas or amongst groups for a variety of reasons. For example a couple of the reasons given for the prevalence of polyandry in certain areas of the Himalaya mountains is due to the limited amount of fertile agricultural areas and also as a way to limit population. Having fewer offspring tends to keep family agriculture holdings unified. However the institutions which might have developed historically in a pre-historical society may or may not be relevant to the needs of individuals in a modern mobile society.
Some of the changes seen is modern societies are in part leading to
a reconsideration of marriage options. Both men and women are moving
into roles which they had not held historically and which may lead to
new situations. Some of the issues include:
Both historically and currently religious institutions have been involved with marriage and often this religious involvement has been done with government sanction. The ability of religious institutions to co-opt the coercive power of the government gives them the ability to maintain a role in the social fabric and to force their world view. Thus we should not be surprised that some (but not all) religions are in the forefront of the efforts to put restricts on marriage and sexual expression.
From a libertarian feminist perspective the role of government is ideally one of getting out of the way. The is no rational reason for government to be deciding for adults which people they can marry based on the number of participants or their gender. As long as it is adults freely agreeing then there is no legitimate government role. At best government involvement will be a needless distraction and at worst an impediment to both happiness of the individuals involved and the general evolution of social instiutuions.