Why I’m Not Married
By Lisa Wade
- I’m not married because I don’t want or need the state’s approval of my relationship and I certainly don’t want it interfering if we decide to part.
- I’m not married because the history of marriage is ugly and anti-woman; because I don’t like the common meanings of the words “wife” and “husband”; and because even today, and even among couples that call themselves feminist, gender inequality in relationships is known to increase when a couple moves from cohabitation to marriage (and I don’t think I’m so special that I’ll be the anomaly).
- I’m not married because I’m opposed to the marriage industrial complex. It’s exploitative, stereotypical, and wasteful.
- I’m not married because I value the fact that my partner and I decide to be together every day, even though we don’t have to jump through legal hoops to do otherwise.
- I’m not married because I don’t want to support a discriminatory institution that has and continues to bless some relationships, but not others, out of bigotry.
- I’m not married because I don’t believe in giving social and economic benefits to some kinds of relationships and not others. I don’t believe that a state- or church-endorsed heterosexual union between two and only two people is superior to other kinds of relationships.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
