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Four Myths About Living Together Without Marriage
Human Events ^ | Mar 01, 2006 | Janice Shaw Crouse

Posted on 03/01/2006 7:09:06 AM PST by ZGuy

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To: Melas
Read post #375.

Yes, at 18, while having a discussion with my father, I reminded him that not all men were as fair as he was, or treated their women as well as he did, and therefore, some women might see a need for the feminist movement.

He had no response for the above comment (crickets chirping), because he knew it was true as he had frequently told me so himself.

But I think the situation would have become less repressive naturally, without the movement.

And in many ways the feminist movement spawned circumstances which are equally repressive, both to men and women.

381 posted on 03/02/2006 11:38:28 AM PST by TAdams8591 (Small is the key!)
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To: TAdams8591
But I think the situation would have become less repressive naturally, without the movement

Well, we disagree there. I'm not nearly so optimistic, but I don't think either one of us wants to argue a point that we both know can't be proven either way.

And in many ways the feminist movement spawned circumstances which are equally repressive, both to men and women.

Specifically?

382 posted on 03/02/2006 11:46:57 AM PST by Melas (What!? Read or learn something? Why would anyone do that, when they can just go on being stupid)
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To: Theo

I'm guessing that you're in your 30's, so I'm surprised that this courtship model was being utilized. I guess I'm just not up on things.

I have major doubts it myself. Not the least of which seems to be a rather creepy age differential similar to the one we see in mail order bride situations. I'd be dead set against my daughter marrying a man old enough to be my peer.


383 posted on 03/02/2006 11:50:56 AM PST by Melas (What!? Read or learn something? Why would anyone do that, when they can just go on being stupid)
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To: Melas
I agree with you. The feminist movement happened because it needed to at the time. In a sense it's like the racial equality movement. It needed to happen, but as the actual environment changes, they should adapt, and at some point, declare victory and go home. One gets the feeling that the shrill divisiveness from both camps is an attempt to keep the debate, and their existence, alive. And so, they've become tools of leftist politics that has little to do with their initial mission.
384 posted on 03/02/2006 11:53:34 AM PST by HairOfTheDog (Hobbit Hole knives for soldiers! www.freeper.the-hobbit-hole.net)
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To: Melas

My fiance and I courted - online, long distance - and it worked for us. I'm going to read that linked article later because some courtship variants are sort of creepy sounding. Particularly the ones that sound like they want the dad to pick a husband for his daughters.

I can't wait to get married. I'd never live with someone before/instead of marriage... just seems like a seriously bad idea to me though I have friends who did it and still ended up happily married.


385 posted on 03/02/2006 11:55:17 AM PST by JenB
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To: Theo
For people as religious as yourselves, it would work, I do not doubt it.

But my parents (who had a GREAT marriage) and many I know from their generation, did just fine, finding mates on their own, by dating with the goal of finding a mate. Of course that was long before the sexual revolution.

As for myself, I would have been fine dating when they did. Unfortunately, my time to date occurred after the sexual revolution, and far more often than not, I met men who weren't dating to find a mate the way I was. While many of my friends, still were able to find their mates, I and a few others were not. However, I also had some big responsibilities and hardships which interfered with establishing my life for many years, unlike my friends, that were an even greater impediment to finding a suitable mate than the societal dating situation at that time.

386 posted on 03/02/2006 11:55:40 AM PST by TAdams8591 (Small is the key!)
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To: John O
So now it's senseless for a young man to get married. You can live together, get the sex for free, have her cook and do laundry etc without ever having to make a committment and without the risk that you'll lose everything...

This is Round 776 of an ongoing fight on FR...

1) Poster puts up story about court proceeding where guy a)is thrown in jail for failing to make support/alimony payments representing 128% of his income b)found that child he's paid support for for six years is not his c) expresses reservations about marriage because of bias in court system, reservations about modern women, etc.

2) Posters reply with a) their own experiences, which they generalize as a universal truth b) stories about friends, families, etc c) cliches about gold digging women and deadbeat dads d) discussion of pros/cons of foreign brides.

3) Invective reaches Defcon 1 as posters ping like minded combatants to thread.

4) A few posters a)recognize that there are such things as deadbeat dads and gold digging women, and that it's never just one gender who's at fault b) recognize kindred spirits on the other side of the gender divide, and conclude that reasonableness knows no gender boundary.

5) These posters are quickly swept to the side by MoRTYs (more righteous than you) who immediately condemn those who have a) been married and divorced b) never been married as a) being proof of the imminent arrival of the Antichrist b)bearing the consequences of ungodly lives.

6) Combatants withdraw, content that their side won.

7) Unmarried males view the bloodbath resulting from same thread and resolve to never, ever get married. They picture themselves being married to the people/mouths the invective came from.

8) Unmarried women view the resulting bloodbath and resolve to never, ever marry the Neanderthal type males evidenced on the thread.

9) Poster opines that given the current atmosphere, perhaps it's best for men to not marry.

10) Return to #2.

Does anyone wonder why relations between the genders is getting worse instead of better? People are the best argument for staying single. We shouldn't be surprised that so many divorce; we should be amazed that anyone marries at all.

387 posted on 03/02/2006 11:55:56 AM PST by gogeo
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To: HairOfTheDog
"It needed to happen,"

I don't agree it needed to happen. Things had been moving in a far less repressive direction for women since WWII. It was forced on us all by a very tiny minority and had severe repercussions.

388 posted on 03/02/2006 11:59:17 AM PST by TAdams8591 (Small is the key!)
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To: JenB

You're the first person I know in modern times to do this courtship thing.... I'm glad it worked for you. Since I was single and a lot older than you, having lived apart from my dad many years, the idea of a man courting me through him would have seemed silly to both of us. It's still always important to me that there is approval and blessing from the family, I guess it's merely a matter of who's driving. :~D It depends a lot on your age, I'd think.


389 posted on 03/02/2006 12:00:07 PM PST by HairOfTheDog (Hobbit Hole knives for soldiers! www.freeper.the-hobbit-hole.net)
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To: Melas
Courtship is a regulated series of discussions and events with the eventual, and only, goal of marriage. It is designed to let two people get to know each other so they know they are compatible but yet keep them safe from getting ahead of the process. (That is, no premarital sex or things that all but inevitably lead to premarital sex). Normally chaperoned.

Dating is two people going out for a good time. (from the mans view: the hunt for sex). It doesn't necessarily have marriage as a goal. In fact I've heard dating referred to as "practice for divorce" as it normally involves lots of break ups and different 'partners' along the line.

In the June time frame I will start looking for a new wife. I don't have time to date. I will court instead.

(BTW, I'm 45 and I plan on having my late wife's parents help me in the process as my parents live quite a ways away. Of course my parents still get an up or down vote. I have a large number of church ladies sorting through the available women who meet my basic requirements to narrow the field to some I can be introduced to. I figure they know me and they know the women so it's easier for them to pick who will work well with me than it is for me to try randomly)

Here's an excellent treatise on courtship vs dating:

Christian courtship

Amd some more resources:
The Courtship Connection

390 posted on 03/02/2006 12:02:13 PM PST by John O (God Save America (Please))
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To: Melas
Many mothers feel as equally forced to go out and work, as the mothers of yeater year felt forced to stay home.

And the same goes for sex before marriage. There is as much pressure to have sex before marriage today as there was pressure not to have sex before marriage years ago.

391 posted on 03/02/2006 12:03:17 PM PST by TAdams8591 (Small is the key!)
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To: TAdams8591
Many mothers feel as equally forced to go out and work, as the mothers of yeater year felt forced to stay home.

I don't know if I agree with that. If I was able to buck tradition and stay home with my children for 13 1/2 years, I'm not going to feel a whole lot of sympathy for any woman who thinks SHE feels pressured to put her kids in daycare and get a job.

And the same goes for sex before marriage. There is as much pressure to have sex before marriage today as there was pressure not to have sex before marriage years ago.

Can't disagree there. To be honest, I'm conflicted on this issue. I'm very torn on what I know I should believe as a Christian, and what I truly believe in my heart of hearts.

392 posted on 03/02/2006 12:08:05 PM PST by Melas (What!? Read or learn something? Why would anyone do that, when they can just go on being stupid)
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To: Melas
Courtship is a regulated series of discussions and events with the eventual, and only, goal of marriage. It is designed to let two people get to know each other so they know they are compatible but yet keep them safe from getting ahead of the process. (That is, no premarital sex or things that all but inevitably lead to premarital sex). Normally chaperoned.

Dating is two people going out for a good time. (from the mans view: the hunt for sex). It doesn't necessarily have marriage as a goal. In fact I've heard dating referred to as "practice for divorce" as it normally involves lots of break ups and different 'partners' along the line.

In the June time frame I will start looking for a new wife. I don't have time to date. I will court instead.

(BTW, I'm 45 and I plan on having my late wife's parents help me in the process as my parents live quite a ways away. Of course my parents still get an up or down vote. I have a large number of church ladies sorting through the available women who meet my basic requirements to narrow the field to some I can be introduced to. I figure they know me and they know the women so it's easier for them to pick who will work well with me than it is for me to try randomly)

Here's an excellent treatise on courtship vs dating:

Christian courtship

Amd some more resources:
The Courtship Connection

393 posted on 03/02/2006 12:09:26 PM PST by John O (God Save America (Please))
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To: gogeo
"Does anyone wonder why relations between the genders is getting worse instead of better? People are the best argument for staying single. We shouldn't be surprised that so many divorce; we should be amazed that anyone marries at all."

LOL, the above would be particularly true if everyone in America read these threads. Thankfully they don't.

This is not all that bad of a thread, though. Mostly very civil discussion to everyone's credit.

394 posted on 03/02/2006 12:09:40 PM PST by TAdams8591 (Small is the key!)
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To: Melas
Courtship is a regulated series of discussions and events with the eventual, and only, goal of marriage. It is designed to let two people get to know each other so they know they are compatible but yet keep them safe from getting ahead of the process. (That is, no premarital sex or things that all but inevitably lead to premarital sex). Normally chaperoned.

Dating is two people going out for a good time. (from the mans view: the hunt for sex). It doesn't necessarily have marriage as a goal. In fact I've heard dating referred to as "practice for divorce" as it normally involves lots of break ups and different 'partners' along the line.

In the June time frame I will start looking for a new wife. I don't have time to date. I will court instead.

(BTW, I'm 45 and I plan on having my late wife's parents help me in the process as my parents live quite a ways away. Of course my parents still get an up or down vote. I have a large number of church ladies sorting through the available women who meet my basic requirements to narrow the field to some I can be introduced to. I figure they know me and they know the women so it's easier for them to pick who will work well with me than it is for me to try randomly)

Here's an excellent treatise on courtship vs dating:

Christian courtship

Amd some more resources:
The Courtship Connection

395 posted on 03/02/2006 12:11:07 PM PST by John O (God Save America (Please))
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To: null and void

The Barones, of course...Everybody Loves Raymond.


396 posted on 03/02/2006 12:11:21 PM PST by gogeo
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To: John O

(sorry for the double post, lost my place)


397 posted on 03/02/2006 12:11:49 PM PST by John O (God Save America (Please))
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To: TAdams8591
"Feminism and the sexual revolution destroyed the idea of virginity until marriage and fostered promiscuity. In so doing, it badly hurt relationships between men and women, marriage, family and children."

Just has to be said again.

398 posted on 03/02/2006 12:13:22 PM PST by John O (God Save America (Please))
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To: Melas
"If I was able to buck tradition and stay home with my children for 13 1/2 years, I'm not going to feel a whole lot of sympathy for any woman who thinks SHE feels pressured to put her kids in daycare and get a job."

Not everyone is as mentally strong as you are, Melas. Nor do they understand the way you do, the importance of someone being home for the children.

The societal pressure for mothers to work and/or have careers is as strong today as the societal pressure for mothers to stay home was years ago.

399 posted on 03/02/2006 12:16:10 PM PST by TAdams8591 (Small is the key!)
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To: TAdams8591

I'm not sure that's societal pressure at work there...the new thing is for wives to take a timeout from their careers and stay home. As I recall a thread here earlier, it was a feminist who said that women have a "duty to their gender" to go out and work.


400 posted on 03/02/2006 12:21:02 PM PST by gogeo
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