Institution Of Marriage - 1086 Words

Eric Behm Professor Justin Smith English Composition 101 12/10/14 Institution of Marriage The idea of two people spending the rest of their lives together used to be an extremely common occurrence. Not to say that it has changed completely, but the odds of a new marriage lasting more than 15 years is now less than half, and the cause of this might not be the regression of the belief in the institution of marriage, but the growth of options and the pursuit and belief in true happiness. In the past 50 years, much has changed in our perception of marriage. With the Sexual Revolution that occurred in the 1960’s and 1970’s, women became independent by gaining control of their sexuality and sought higher education, higher paying jobs and†¦show more content†¦These clubs expanded throughout the 1960s, opening locations from New York to Los Angeles and further. (Farber, p. 30) There was a massive increase in sexual encounters between unmarried adults during the Sexual Revolution. Men and women sought to reshape marriage by insti lling new institutions of open marriage, mate swapping, swinging, and communal sex. In addition, the growing number of marriages resulting in divorce--and the consequent lessening of the stigma attached to divorce--provided another opportunity for men and women to engage in non-monogamous sexual activity. With the relaxing attitude towards sexuality and the introduction of birth control, casual sex between adults was becoming very popular. The development of the birth control pill is often suggested as a cause of the Sexual Revolution. The creation of birth control actually came from President Lyndon B. Johnson’s social reform policy called â€Å"The Great Society†, which was mainly set to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. The FDA licensed â€Å"The Pill† in 1960 as a means to eliminate poverty cause by overpopulation. (Bailey, p. 828) The pill was extremely popular and had over 1 million users by the year 1962. With the wide adoption of birth cont rol, women now became free to express their sexuality without the worry of unplanned pregnancy. The role of women in marriage in the 1950’s was often to stay at home doing housework and