Myth #1 is obviously no myth. Many couples who cohabit are indeed "testing the waters" and many of them conclude from that test that they should not be together. That's what a "test" is; it doesn't require a specific outcome.
Myth #2 is just another way of saying that a "piece of paper" (i.e., a government marriage contract) is more coercive than the lack thereof, and therefore harder to get out of. Well, Duhh. For those couples who don't want to stay together, that's a feature, not a bug.
Myth #3 is a total straw man argument. Who cares whether cohabiting is more likely to lead to marriage? Only those people who think marriage is a superior condition and the ultimate goal. For those people who are not fixated on marriage, the percentage of cohabitees who eventually get married is immaterial.
Myth #4 is another straw man argument. Only those people who are extremely concerned with egalitarianism in relationships will care whether marriages are statistically more or less egalitarian than cohabitation. In any case, what do the statistics matter? For any particular couple, their only concern is whether their own relationship (whether married or cohabiting) meets their own expectations. Why should they care whether couples other than themselves are more or less likely to have a relationship imbalance?
In my own case, I cohabited with my partner for 28 years before we finally got married last summer. The only reason we got married was because government tax and social security policies are so discriminatory that we could no longer afford not to. But in 28 years of living together and raising our daughter we never had any problems with cohabiting. We would have prefered to continue cohabiting rather than marrying.
"But in 28 years of living together and raising our daughter we never had any problems with cohabiting."
You live in California, don't you?
AMEN!!!
My SIL and her husband lived together for 22 years before marrying, same reason as yourself. They have lasted longer than most marriages I know. My mate and I have been together for 7 years and have a good, solid relationship. We are in the relationship because we CHOOSE to be. There have been bumps, but the committment is there whether the paper is or not. We have seen the pain seperating parents caused our children from previous marraiges and when times get tough, we try to get tough too. To avoid that pain of our finally adjusted to stepfamily children and the one we have together.