CHAPTER SIX

HUSBAND AND WIFE IN PRO-CREATIVE ACTIVITY

Husband and Wife, in civil and religious laws, is a relationship between a man and woman established by the marriage contract and resulting in the creation of certain rights and obligations between the spouses. A valid marriage is a special type of contract that can be terminated only in a court of law through divorce or annulment. In all civilised countries today, the legal status of husband and wife is regulated by state law and varies among the states. Although marriage requirements such as age and permissible degree of relationship differ, each state generally will recognise a marriage validly contracted in another state. A wife traditionally takes the husband's surname, but law does not require this.

In the early 19th century, the legal existence of the wife was suspended during marriage; that is, the husband and wife were deemed one person—the husband. Enactment of the Married Women's Property Acts in the mid-19th century, as well as later reforms, provided a wife with legal rights from which she was previously barred, including the right to own property, dispose of her property in a will, sue or be sued, sign a contract in her own name, and execute a deed. A 1979 Supreme Court decision determined that both spouses have an equal obligation to support the other. Nevertheless, the old law, under which the husband had a duty to support his wife, sometimes dictates the results of disputes on this question because often he is still the primary breadwinner. Such support generally extends to “necessaries,” a term that will differ depending on prior family circumstances and standards of living. This obligation to support may be enforced under civil and criminal law. In case of death, most states require that a spouse receive a specified share in the deceased's estate.

In legal proceedings, spouses are permitted to testify against each other, except in criminal cases or when testimony will disclose a confidential communication arising from the marital relationship. Many states now allow suits between spouses. Generally, spouses are not liable for each other's torts. A husband has not been recognized as having a right to consent to a wife's abortion. In criminal actions, marital rape has been prosecuted in some states.

PITUITARY GLAND AND HUMAN REPRODUCTION

Pituitary Gland is the master endocrine gland in vertebrate animals. The hormones secreted by the pituitary stimulate and control the functioning of almost all the other endocrine glands in the body. Pituitary hormones also promote growth and control the water balance of the body.

The pituitary is a small bean-shaped, reddish-gray organ located in the saddle-shaped depression (sella turcica) in the floor of the skull (the sphenoid bone) and attached to the base of the brain by a stalk; it is located near the hypothalamus. The pituitary has two lobes—the anterior lobe, or adenohypophysis, and the posterior lobe, or neurohypophysis—which differ in structure and function. The anterior lobe is derived embryologically from the roof of the pharynx and is composed of groups of epithelial cells separated by blood channels; the posterior lobe is derived from the base of the brain and is composed of nervous connective tissue and nerve-like secreting cells. The area between the anterior and posterior lobes of the pituitary is called the intermediate lobe; it has the same embryological origin as the anterior lobe.

The Anterior Lobe

Extracts from the anterior pituitary glands of cattle, sheep, and swine give concentrated chemical substances, or hormones, which control 10 to 12 functions in the body. Eight hormones have been isolated, purified, and identified; all of them are peptides, that is, they are composed of amino acids. Growth hormone (GH), or the Somatotropic hormone (STH), is essential for normal skeletal growth and is neutralized during adolescence by the gonadal sex hormones. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) controls the normal functioning of the thyroid gland; and the Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) controls the activity of the cortex of the adrenal glands and takes part in the stress reaction (see Hydrocortisone). Prolactin, also called lactogenic, luteotropic, or mammotropic hormone, initiates milk secretion in the mammary gland after the mammary tissues have been prepared during pregnancy by the secretion of other pituitary and sex hormones.

The two gonadotropic hormones are Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and Luteinising hormone (LH). Follicle-stimulating hormone stimulates the formation of the Graafian follicle in the female ovary and the development of spermatozoa in the male. The luteinising hormone stimulates the formation of ovarian hormones after ovulation and initiates lactation in the female; in the male, it stimulates the tissues of the testes to elaborate testosterone. In 1975, scientists identified the pituitary peptide endorphin, which acts in experimental animals as a natural pain reliever in times of stress. Endorphin and ACTH are made as parts of a single large protein, which subsequently splits. This may be the body's mechanism for coordinating the physiological activities of two stress-induced hormones. The same large prohormone that contains ACTH and endorphin also contains short peptides called Melanocyte-stimulating hormones. These substances are analogous to the hormone that regulates pigmentation in fish and amphibians, but in humans, they have no known function.

Research has shown that chemical messengers sent from the hypothalamus through tiny blood vessels to the anterior lobe control the hormonal activity of the anterior lobe. In the 1950s, the British neurologist Geoffrey Harris discovered that cutting the blood supply from the hypothalamus to the pituitary impaired the function of the pituitary. In 1964, chemical agents called releasing factors were found in the hypothalamus; these substances, it was learned, affect the secretion of growth hormone, a thyroid-stimulating hormone called thyrotropin, and the gonadotropic hormones involving the testes and ovaries.

Pituitary Gland

Called the master gland, the pituitary secretes hormones that control the activity of other endocrine glands and regulate various biological processes. Its secretions include growth hormone (which stimulates cellular activity in bone, cartilage, and other structural tissue); thyroid stimulating hormone (which causes the thyroid to release metabolism-regulating hormones); anti-diuretic hormone (which causes the kidney to excrete less water in the urine); and prolactin (which stimulates milk production and breast development in females). The pituitary gland is influenced both neurally and hormonally by the hypothalamus.

In 1969, the American endocrinologist Roger Guillemin and colleagues isolated and characterized thyrotropin-releasing factor, which stimulates the secretion of thyroid-stimulating hormone from the pituitary. In the next few years, his group and that of the American physiologist Andrew Victor Schally isolated the luteinising hormone-releasing factor, which stimulates secretion of both LH and FSH, and somatostatin, which inhibits release of growth hormone. For this work, which proved that the brain and the endocrine system are linked, they shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1977. Human somatostatin was one of the first substances to be grown in bacteria by recombinant DNA.

The presence of the releasing factors in the hypothalamus helped to explain the action of the female sex hormones, estrogenic and progesterone, and their synthetic versions contained in oral contraceptives, or birth-control pills. During a woman's normal monthly cycle, several hormonal changes are needed for the ovary to produce an egg cell for possible fertilization. When the oestrogen level in the body declines, the follicle-releasing factor (FRF) flows to the pituitary and stimulates the secretion of the follicle-stimulating hormone. Through a similar feedback principle, the declining level of progesterone causes a release of luteal-releasing factor (LRF), which stimulates secretion of the luteinising hormone. The ripening follicle in the ovary then produces oestrogen, and the high level of that hormone influences the hypothalamus to shut down temporarily the production of FSH. Increased progesterone feedback to the hypothalamus shuts down LH production by the pituitary. The daily doses of synthetic oestrogen and progesterone in oral contraceptives, or injections of the actual hormones, inhibit the normal reproductive activity of the ovaries by mimicking the effect of these hormones on the hypothalamus.

THE INTERMEDIATE LOBE

In lower vertebrates, this part of the pituitary secretes melanocyte-stimulating hormone, which brings about skin-colour changes. In humans, it is present only for a short time early in life and during pregnancy, and is not known to have any function.

THE POSTERIOR LOBE

The posterior lobe secretes two hormones. One of these is the anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), vasopressin. Vasopressin stimulates the kidney tubules to absorb water from the filtered plasma that passes through the kidneys and thus controls the amount of urine secreted by the kidneys. The other posterior pituitary hormone is Oxytocin, which causes the contraction of the smooth muscles in the uterus, intestines, and blood arterioles.

Oxytocin stimulates the contractions of the uterine muscles during the final stage of pregnancy to stimulate the expulsion of the foetus, and it stimulates the ejection, or letdown, of milk from the mammary gland following pregnancy. Synthesized in 1953, Oxytocin was the first pituitary hormone to be produced artificially. Vasopressin was synthesized in 1956.

PITUITARY DISTURBANCES

Pituitary functioning may be disturbed by such conditions as tumours, blood poisoning, blood clots, and certain infectious diseases. Conditions resulting from a decrease in anterior-lobe secretion include dwarfism, acromicria, Simmonds's disease, and Fröhlich's syndrome.

Dwarfism occurs when anterior pituitary deficiencies occur during childhood; acromicria, in which the bones of the extremities are small and delicate, results when the deficiency occurs after puberty. Simmonds's disease, which is caused by extensive damage to the anterior pituitary, is characterized by premature aging, loss of hair and teeth, anaemia, and emaciation; it can be fatal. Both anterior pituitary deficiency and a lesion of the posterior lobe or hypothalamus cause Fröhlich’s syndrome, also called adiposogenital dystrophy. The result is obesity, dwarfism, and retarded sexual development. Glands under the influence of anterior pituitary hormones are also affected by anterior pituitary deficiency. Over-secretion of one of the anterior pituitary hormones, somatotropin, and results in a progressive chronic disease called acromegaly that is usually characterised by enlargement of some parts of the body. Posterior-lobe deficiency results in diabetes insipidus.

FERTILISATION, PREGNANCY, GESTATION AND CHILD BIRTH

As we have discussed earlier, the fusion of a sperm and an ovum initiates pregnancy and gestation in viviparous reproduction in the human species.

The duty of good parents towards their offspring is summarised in this noble maxim

“ONLY CONCEIVE AND REAR A CHILD WHEN TRULY IN LOVE!”

FULL TERM LABOUR AND CHILDBIRTH

A normal pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks, or 280 days, after the beginning of the last menstrual period. Occasionally women go into labour before the expected date of birth, resulting in a premature infant. About 7 percent of all infants are premature—that is, born before the 37th week of pregnancy. Babies born just a few weeks early usually develop normally. Recent advances in the care of premature infants now allow many babies who are born after only 25 to 26 weeks of pregnancy to survive.

Rhythmic uterine contractions announce the beginning of labour, then, contractions become more frequent and painful in stage two.

Delivery, the process by which the baby is expelled from the uterus through the birth canal and into the world, begins with irregular contractions of the uterus that occur every 20 to 30 minutes.

As labour progresses, the contractions increase in frequency and severity. The usual length of labour for a first-time mother is about 13 to 14 hours, and about 8 or 9 hours in a woman who has given birth previously. Wide variations exist, however, in the duration of labour.

As the head emerges, the neck flexes and the baby rotates to the side, to allow the shoulders manoeuvre around the pelvic bone.

This results in serious problems if not done properly. Often, this may lead to surgery.

Childbirth

In the final stage of childbirth, the umbilical cord is cut. The umbilical cord transports nutrition and oxygen from the mother’s placenta to the foetus.

BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc.

Other options available regarding childbirth include regional (local) anaesthesia, in which only those areas of the mother that are affected by the pain of childbirth are numbed. Such anaesthesias include a lower spinal block and epidural anaesthesia, in which the pelvic region is anaesthetised. Another option is caesarean section, in which the baby is surgically removed from the uterus. Caesarean section is usually performed only for a specific medical reason.

The essence of this handbook would have been achieved if young adults resolve today to wait till they are physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially ready to bear the roles and duties of responsible lovers, mature couples and legally married spouses who love the roles and duties of responsible parenthood!

Contributed by Michaela P. Richardson, Philip A. Corfman and Nkechi N. Mbaezue.

CHAPTER SEVEN

MARRIAGE IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

INTRODUCTION

Marriage is a socially recognised and approved union between individuals of opposite sexes, who commit to share their lives together with the expectation of a stable and lasting intimate relationship. It begins with a ceremony known as a wedding, which formally unites the marriage partners. A marital relationship usually involves some kind of contract, either written or specified by tradition, which defines the partners’ rights and obligations to each other, to any children they may have, and to their relatives. In most contemporary industrialized societies, marriage is certified by the government.

Age at First Marriage

Following a sharp decline during and after World War II (1939-1945), the age at which men and women in the United States first marry has steadily increased. In the mid-1990s, the age of first marriage for women was higher and closer to the age at which men first marry than at any time in the previous 100 years.

This definition excludes homosexual and lesbian relationships, which the NGO; HAPPY FAMILY NETWORK INTERNATIONAL respects as the only sensible form of marital union! This form of marriage thrives on true and mature love, which is the foundation stone of a responsible parenthood! In addition to being a personal relationship between two people, marriage is one of society’s most important and basic institutions. Marriage and family serve as tools for ensuring social reproduction. Social reproduction includes providing food, clothing, and shelter for family members; raising and socializing children; and caring for the sick and elderly. In families and societies in which wealth, property, or a hereditary title is to be passed on from one generation to the next, inheritance and the production of legitimate heirs are a prime concern in marriage. However, in contemporary industrialized societies, marriage functions less as a social institution and more as a source of intimacy for the individuals involved.

Marriage is commonly defined as a partnership between two members of opposite sex known as husband and wife. However, scholars who study human culture and society disagree on whether marriage can be universally defined. The usual roles and responsibilities of the husband and wife include living together, having sexual relations only with one another, sharing economic resources, and being recognized as the parents of their children. However, unconventional forms of marriage that do not include these elements do exist. For example, scholars have studied several cultural groups in Africa and India in which husbands and wives do not live together. Instead, each spouse remains in his or her original home, and the husband is a “visitor” with sexual rights. Committed relationships between homosexuals (individuals with a sexual orientation toward people of the same sex) also challenge conventional definitions of marriage.

Debates over the definition of marriage illustrate its dual nature as both a public institution and a private, personal relationship. On the one hand, marriage involves an emotional and sexual relationship between particular human beings. At the same time, marriage is an institution that transcends the particular individuals involved in it and unites two families. In some cultures, marriage connects two families in a complicated set of property exchanges involving land, labour, and other resources. The extended family and society also share an interest in any children the couple may have. Furthermore, the legal and religious definitions of marriage and the laws that surround it usually represent the symbolic expression of core cultural norms (informal behavioural guidelines) and values.

Photo Researchers, Inc.

Interracial Family

Marriages between African Americans and whites make up less than 1 percent of all marriages in the United States. Many states had laws against miscegenation (interracial marriage) until 1967, when such laws were declared unconstitutional.

SELECTING A PARTNER

Although practices vary from one culture to another, all societies have rules about who is eligible to marry whom, which individuals are forbidden to marry one another, and the process of selecting a mate. In most societies, the mate-selection process involves what social scientists call a marriage market. The husband and wife come together out of a wide range of possible partners. In many non-Western societies the parents, not the prospective marriage partners, do the “shopping.” In Western societies social rules have gradually changed to permit more freedom of choice for the couple and a greater emphasis on love as the basis for marriage.

Dating, Courtship, and Engagement

In societies in which individuals choose their own partners, young people typically date prior to marriage. Dating is the process of spending time with prospective partners to become acquainted. Dates may take place in groups or between just two individuals. When dating becomes more serious, it may be referred to as courtship. Courtship implies a deeper level of commitment than dating does. During courtship, the individuals specifically contemplate marriage, rather than merely enjoy one another’s company for the time being.

Courtship may lead to engagement, also known as betrothal—the formal agreement to marry. Couples usually spend some period of time engaged before they actually marry. A woman who is engaged is known as the man’s fiancée, and the man is known as the woman’s fiancé (both can be pronounced as fee-AHN-say or as fee-ahn-SAY). Men typically give an engagement ring to their fiancée as a symbol of the agreement to marry.

In the past, dating, courtship and engagement were distinct stages in the selection of a marital partner. Each stage represented an increasing level of commitment and intimacy. Although this remains true to some degree, since the 1960s these stages have tended to blend into one another. For example, modern dating and courtship often involve sexual relations. Studies indicate that more than three-quarters of young people in the United States have had sexual intercourse by the age of 19.

Furthermore, the contemporary mate-selection process frequently includes the practice of cohabitation—living together in an unmarried sexual relationship. Cohabitation has a long history among poor people, but has become popular among young, middle-class adults only since the 1960s. Cohabitation often precedes marriage, but in some cases, people continue to cohabit without marrying. In general, people tend to date and marry people with whom they have characteristics in common. Thus, mate selection typically results in homogenous marriage, in which the partners are similar in a variety of ways. Characteristics that couples tend to share include race, ethnicity, religion, economic status, age, and the level of prestige of their parents.

In the United States, marital similarity has increased for some traits and decreased for others in recent years. People seek partners who are similar in attributes that result from individual achievement. For example, an individual is more likely to marry someone who has a similar amount of education. At the same time, Americans are less likely to require similarity of factors present at a person’s birth, such as religion and social class. However, the tendency to marry someone of the same race persists.

For instance, marriages between African Americans and whites make up less than 1 percent of all marriages in the United States. Until the Supreme Court of the United States ruled the practice unconstitutional in the late 1960s, laws in some states prohibited certain types of interracial marriage, also known as miscegenation. This is not only mischievous, but racist, ethnocentric and apartheid. For a civilised nation to promulgate such a puerile legislation clearly demonstrates that it is regressing socially. It is a clear case of primitivism, xenophobia and infantile stagnation to regulate who falls in love with whom else. Can romance and libidinal energy be quantified and controlled? Mental illness shows in a variety of ways. This is one of them on a national level! It portrays Americans as undemocratic and parochial. Therefore, they should stop deceiving themselves with their foreign policies that are dress in the garb of human rights!

Arranged Marriages

Historically parents have played a major role in choosing marriage partners for their children, and the custom continues in the world’s developing countries today. Parental influence is greatest when the parents have a large stake in where and whom their child marries. Traditionally, marriage has been regarded as an alliance between two families, rather than just between the two individuals. Aristocratic families could enhance their wealth or acquire royal titles through a child’s marriage. Marriage was also used as a way of sealing peace between former enemies, whether they were kings or feuding villagers.

The extreme form of parental influence is an arranged marriage in which the bride and groom have no say at all.

For instance, in traditional Chinese practice, the bride and groom meet for the first time on their wedding day. In some upper-caste Hindu marriages, children are betrothed at a very young age and have no voice in the decision. In a less extreme form of arranged marriage, parents may do the matchmaking, but the young people can veto the choice. Some small cultures scattered around the world have what social scientists call preferential marriage. In this system, the bride or groom is supposed to marry a particular kind of person—for example, a cousin on the mother’s or father’s side of the family.

In many traditional societies, marriage typically involved transfers of property from the parents to their marrying children or from one set of parents to the other. These customs persist in some places today and are part of the tradition of arranged marriages. For example, in some cultures the bride’s parents may give property (known as a dowry) to the new couple. The practice of giving dowries has been common in countries such as Greece, Egypt, India, and China from ancient times until the present. It was also typical in European societies in the past. Although the giving of dowries has been part of the norms of marriage in these cultures, often only those people with property could afford to give a dowry to the young couple.

Yemenite Jewish Wedding

A Yemenite bride and groom pose at their wedding ceremony in Israel. The bride is bedecked with jewellery and wears the traditional wedding costume of Yemenite Jews. Her elaborate headdress is decorated with flowers and rue leaves, which are believed to ward off evil. Gold threads are woven into the fabric of her clothing. The shira heard here is sung as a central part of a seven-day wedding celebration and its lyrics tell of friendship and love in alternating verses of Hebrew and Arabic.

Families use dowries to attract a son-in-law with desirable qualities, such as a particularly bright man from a poor but respectable family or a man with higher status but with less money than the bride’s family has. In societies in which the giving of dowries is customary, families with many daughters can become impoverished by the costs of marriage. For this reason, in Europe in earlier times some families sent “extra” daughters to convents. In India and China, where it is expected that every woman will marry, families have sometimes tried to limit the number of daughters born to them through infanticide (the killing of infants).

In some societies, the groom’s family gives property (known as bride wealth or bride price) not to the new couple but to the bride’s relatives. Particularly in places where bride wealth payments are high, the practice tends to maintain the authority of fathers over sons. Because fathers control the resources of the family, sons must keep the favour of their fathers in order to secure the property necessary to obtain a bride. The custom of giving bride wealth occurs primarily in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Anthropologists characterize bride wealth as compensation to the bride’s family for the transfer to the groom’s family of the bride’s reproductive capacities or her ability to work. They debate whether the practice should be seen as the actual sale of a daughter or whether it is a ritual—that is, a symbolic act—rather than an economic transaction.

Woodfin Camp and Associates, Inc./Eastcott-Momatiuk

Wedding in Slovakia

Musicians lead the bride and groom along a village street in Slovakia during their wedding. Musical performance forms an essential part of many rites of passage all over the world.

Although arranged marriage persist in many African and Asian cultures today, as modernisation and western lifestyles penetrate these countries, their youth are fast dropping the old for the new. In addition, as foreign trade and commerce have effects on these pre-industrialised nations, its influence pervades many areas become part of the global economy. Thus, age-old customs and mores cascade and subsequently parental influences on marriage continue to decline. Young people who work for wages rather than on the family’s land no longer depend highly on neither their parents’ goodwill nor their resources.

As Western popular culture—including motion pictures, television, music and fashion—spreads around the world, many young people are drawn to Western notions of love, romance and individual choice. In some places, such as Japan, people combine modern Western and older cultural practices. For instance, parents and computer matchmaking services help find prospective mates, and the individuals can accept or reject the proposed match.

Conventions and Taboos

Marriage is part of a society’s kinship system, which defines the bonds and linkages between people. The kinship system also dictates who may or may not marry depending on those bonds. In some cultures people may only marry partners who are members of the same clan—that is, people who trace their ancestry back to a common ancestor. This practice of marrying within one’s group is called endogamy. Exogamy, on the other hand, refers to the practice of marrying outside of one’s group—for example, marrying outside one’s clan or religion. The former often leads to genetic disorders that could have been avoided were the second option of exogamy practised!

One rule shared by virtually all societies is the taboo i.e. social prohibition against incest—sexual relations between two closely related individuals. Definitions of which relationships are close enough to trigger this taboo vary a great deal, depending on the society. In most cases, the prohibition applies to relationships within the biological nuclear family: mother and son, father and daughter, or brother and sister. In Biafra and other African countries, it extends to prohibiting relationships between the offspring of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandmothers and grandfathers on both the paternal and maternal lineage

In many cultures, the taboo also applies to relationships created by divorce and remarriage as well as to those based on religious affinity, such as baptismal or wedding sponsorship, normal adoptions and other cultural norms and mores. The prohibitions on incest and the rules for marriage do not necessarily coincide. In Britain, for example, step-relatives are not allowed to marry one another, but sexual relations between them are not legally forbidden. A few societies constitute exceptions to the general rule against incest. In ancient Egypt brother-sister marriage and sexual intimacy was permitted in the royal family, probably to maintain the “purity” of the royal bloodlines. So also were the cases of Israelites who married their first cousins rather marry what they regarded as ‘gentiles’

Monogamy and Polygamy

In the United States and in other Western societies, both law and long-standing tradition dictate that marriages are monogamous—that is, an individual is married to only one other person. This form of marriage exists in all cultures and is the most common form, even in places where other arrangements are recognised. People in monogamous cultures may not have more than one marriage partner at a time. However, if a marriage ends due to the death of a partner or divorce (legal termination of marriage), remarriage is acceptable. Thus, people in monogamous cultures may have more than one spouse during their lifetimes.

Some cultures in Africa and Asia recognise polygamy—that is, marriage to more than one wife or husband at a time. The marriage of one man to two or more women at the same time is called polygyny. Polyandry refers to the marriage of one woman to two or more men.

Where polygamy exists, in almost all cases it means polygyny is practised. The Old Testament of the Bible describes the practice of polygyny among the ancient Hebrews. The early Christians outlawed polygyny, which had existed among the pre-Christian tribes of Europe as well as among Hebrews. During the 19th century in the United States, members of the Mormon religion practised polygyny. Although the church officially rejected the practice of polygyny in 1890, some Mormons still engage in plural relationships. Under Islamic law today, a man may legally have as many as four wives and is allowed many concubines.

Polygyny is also practised in most African nations. In the olden days a man’s greatness or wealth was measured by how many wives and children he has and can conveniently feed! Although the practice is dying a natural death due to hard economic conditions, many affluent men in Biafra and other African nations, still have one official wife and as many girlfriends as he can maintain despite professing Christianity. Some sects of the new Christian modification permit polygyny in specified cases.

Even where polygyny is an approved form of marriage, it is a relatively rare occurrence. In reality, most men cannot afford more than one wife. Anthropologists believe that polygyny reflects the male desire for prestige and paternity (fatherhood) rather than the sex drive. It is generally practiced in societies in which wealth, status, and even immortality depend on having many children.

Polyandry is extremely rare. Where it does exist; it seems to be associated with groups who live in extremely impoverished environments. Polyandry is also associated with areas in which there is a shortage of women in comparison to men. In certain areas of Tibet, a woman may marry the eldest son of a family and take his brothers as husbands also. This practice reduces competition among heirs and ensures transmission of land with minimal fragmentation.

But among the Brass people in Nigeria, it is a norm! Some ethnic groups allow brothers to switch their wives. This is similar with the fad in Western countries where wife swapping is one of the past times of millionaires or the more permissive class of non-conformists! It is not scientific to cover up some of the dark sides of western civilisation and make third-world countries look more primitive than their counterparts in Europe and the Americas! Let the truth be told

III

WEDDING CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS

The ceremony that signifies the beginning of a marriage is known as a wedding. Weddings may be simple or elaborate, but they occur in virtually all societies.

Ritual Aspects

Anthropologists characterise wedding ceremonies as rituals of transition, or rites of passage. These rites occur when people cross boundaries of age or social status. Any social transition, such as the birth of a child or the death of a person, sets off changes in the lives of all those connected with the individual. Weddings and other rites of passage dramatize these changes for all involved and also allow for the expression of emotions brought on by the events. Weddings announce to the community the union of the individuals marrying and allow the community to express its approval of and support for that union.

Wedding rituals throughout the world share several common features. An essential element of nearly all wedding ceremonies is the symbolic expression of the union between the individuals marrying. This union may be signified by the exchange of rings, the tying of the bride and groom’s garments together, or simply the joining of hands. Other rituals emphasize the function of the marriage as the foundation of the family. For instance, in Hindu wedding ceremonies the bride and groom circle a sacred fire to promote the fertility of the union. Feasting and dancing at weddings by family and friends signifies the community’s blessing on the marriage.

Arvind Garg

Hindu Marriage Ceremony

Pictured here is one part of the Hindu marriage ceremony. Hinduism is the major religion in India. It is considered a social obligation to be married within the religion. Most Hindu marriages are arranged in the traditional fashion between members of the same caste.

In the United States and Canada

Until the middle of the 19th century, weddings in Western society were modest events that took place in homes. By 1900 formal weddings and their attendant rituals had become major events in middle-class families. The white wedding—a formal affair with the bride dressed in white—is now the standard throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, and its practice has spread to Asia and Africa as well.

Many weddings involve a religious ceremony. These ceremonies vary depending on the religion of the bride and groom. Various religions or denominations have distinctive wedding customs. Roman Catholic ceremonies involve a nuptial mass, during which many scriptural texts concerning marriage are read. The presence of a priest and at least two witnesses is essential, as is the expression of consent by the bride and groom. In Orthodox Jewish celebrations, the bride and groom stand under a chuppah—a canopy that symbolizes the home the couple will establish. Following the ceremony the groom smashes a wineglass. Most scholars believe this act commemorates the destruction of the first Jewish temple (the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem) by the Babylonians in 586 bc. In ceremonies governed by the Greek Orthodox Church, the “best man” places crowns attached by ribbon on the heads of the bride and groom, signifying divine sanction of their marriage.

Some American and Canadian couples prefer a nonreligious, or civil, wedding ceremony. Such weddings typically occur in commercial wedding chapels or reception halls, courthouses or other governmental offices, or outdoors. These events tend to be smaller and less formal affairs than traditional religious ceremonies. A government-certified, secular official administers the ceremony in the presence of at least two witnesses. Other couples elope—that is, they have a private wedding ceremony that does not involve a gathering of family and friends.

Most couples exchange some sort of marriage vows (promises). Vows may be prescribed by the church or written by the couple. Traditional Protestant vows include the promise to love and to cherish, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, until parted by death. The minister asks the bride and the groom if they each make this promise to the other and each responds, “I do.”

Following the wedding ceremony, religious or civil, many couples hold a reception. At the reception friends and family gather to eat, drink, listen to music and dance, make toasts, and give gifts to the bride and groom. During the reception, the couple typically cut a special, large cake that is shared with all the guests. The bride and groom may also conduct a receiving line where they greet and thank each guest for attending their wedding.

Many newlyweds take a honeymoon trip after their wedding. During the honeymoon, the couple can spend time by themselves exploring their new status as husband and wife. Popular honeymoon destinations for U.S. and Canadian couples include Hawaii, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

PATTERNS AND TRENDS

Marriage patterns throughout the world vary according to custom, tradition, religion, and economic factors. The age at which people marry for the first time, the proportion of adults who marry at some point in their lives, and the likelihood that marriages will end in divorce differ among cultures.

In the United States and Canada

The dominant patterns of marriage in the United States and Canada are based on those of the countries in north-western Europe that were the main sources of immigration until the beginning of the 20th century. Historically this European marriage pattern has included a relatively late age of marriage, a relatively large proportion of people remaining single, and an emphasis on the nuclear family (husband, wife, and children) rather than the kin group or clan. During the 20th century, however, marriage and family arrangements have become increasingly diverse.

The United States has historically had higher rates of marriage than those of other industrialised countries, as well as higher rates of divorce. In 1997 2.4 million marriages took place in the United States. The current annual marriage rate in the United States—about 9 new marriages for every 1,000 people—is substantially higher than it is in other industrialized democracies. However, marriage is no longer as widespread as it was several decades ago. The proportion of American adults who are married declined from 72 percent in 1970 to 60 percent in 1998. This does not mean that large numbers of people will remain unmarried throughout their lives. Throughout the 20th century, about 90 percent of Americans married at some point in their lives. Experts project that about the same proportion of today’s young adults will eventually marry. Marriage rates in Canada have also declined during the past few decades. In the mid-1940s the annual marriage rate in Canada was 11 new marriages for every 1,000 people. Today 5 new marriages take place each year for every 1,000 people. About half of the current adult population of Canada is married.

The timing of marriage has fluctuated over the past century. In 1995 the median age of women in the United States at the time of their first marriage was 25. The median age of men was about 27. Men and women marry for the first time an average of five years later than people did in the 1950s. However, young adults of the 1950s married younger than did any previous generation in U.S. history. Today’s later age of marriage is in line with the age of marriage between 1890 and 1940. Moreover, a greater proportion of the population was married (95 percent) during the 1950s than at any time before or since. Experts do not agree on why the “marriage rush” of the late 1940s and 1950s occurred, but most social scientists believe it represented a response to the return of normalcy and prosperity after 15 years of severe economic depression and war. In Canada the median age at first marriage is nearly identical to that in the United States—just over age 24 for women and nearly 27 years of age for men.

Although the divorce rate in the United States has levelled off in recent years, it remains the highest in the industrialized world. In 1997, 4.3 divorces took place for every 1,000 people in the United States. This is the lowest figure since the late 1970s. The median duration of marriage in the United States has increased since 1970, rising from 6.7 years to 7.2 years in 1990. In Canada, each year 2.2 divorces take place for every 1,000 people. Remarriage after divorce has also been common in the United States, with a majority of both men and women remarrying within ten years. Since the 1970s the rate of remarriage has dropped in the United States and Canada. However, cohabitation has become widespread.

In Other Countries

The average age at which men and women first marry varies tremendously throughout the world. For instance, in India marriages tend to take place at a significantly earlier age than they do in the United States and Canada. The median age of Indian women at the time of their first marriage is just under 19, while for men it is just over 23. Nearly 44 percent of women in India between the ages of 15 and 19 are married. In Jamaica, on the other hand, men and women marry much later in life. The median age of first marriage for both Jamaican women and men is 31. Less than 1 percent of men and women in Jamaica between the ages of 15 and 19 are married.

Rates of marriage and divorce also fluctuate widely throughout the world. For instance, in Cuba the annual marriage rate is 15 new marriages for every 1,000 people, while in South Africa only 3 new marriages take place each year for every 1,000 people. Many of the countries of Western Europe share an annual rate of marriage of roughly 5 for every 1,000 people. Divorce rates in many countries in Western Europe are also similar. In France, Germany, Austria, and Italy approximately 2 divorces take place annually for every 1,000 people. Spain is a notable exception with an annual divorce rate of only 0.6 for every 1,000 people. Higher rates of divorce are found in Eastern European countries—Estonia, Ukraine, and Belarus each has an annual rate of about 4 divorces for every 1,000 people.

The first visit of a prospective bachelor accompanied by relatives and friends announces the commencement of marriage rites in Igboland. This is depicted in these two pictures where the son of the main author is shown with bride-to-be in the traditional giving of wine to identify her man and pouring of libation / prayers said by the oldest male of the bride’s lineage.

CHAPTER EIGHT

ROLES AND RELATIONSHIPS IN MARRIAGE

Over the past several hundred years, social, economic, religious, and cultural changes have dramatically altered the institution of marriage, especially the roles of husbands and wives, in Western societies. Many factors contribute to the transformation, including the shift from a rural and agricultural society to an urban industrial economy; the increasing emphasis on individual freedom following the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment; and changes in population characteristics, such as the decline of mortality (death) rates and the increase in average life expectancy. Scholars have identified two primary themes that influence marital change. First, the trend both in society and within marriage has been toward an increase in equality between men and women. Second, individuals have placed greater emphasis on love as the motivation for—and basis of—marriage. In recent decades, these influences have spread beyond Western societies.

Increased Equality

Historically the roles of men and women within marriages have reflected their roles within society. Laws and customs have traditionally restricted women’s opportunities, limited their legal rights, and required them to be under the protection and control of a man. For example, under the legal doctrine of covertures, developed in England during the Middle Ages, the law viewed the husband and wife as one person—and that person was the husband. In the 18th century, English legal scholar Sir William Blackstone summed up the laws of marriage by stating that “the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated” into that of the husband. English colonists in North America brought their legal traditions with them and the common law of the United States and Canada incorporated the legal disabilities of women. As a result of covertures, a married woman lost many of the legal rights she may have possessed before marriage. For example, a single woman who owned property lost her rights over that property upon marriage. A bride’s wealth became her husband’s.

The tradition of legal patriarchy (male authority) is reflected in social practices related to weddings and marriage. For example, in many cultures the bride’s father “gives” his daughter to the groom. During the wedding, the father may physically walk the bride to the groom and transfer her to the groom’s arm or he may verbally state that he gives her to be married. Traditionally the woman’s loss of her maiden name after marriage signified that her identity was absorbed by that of her husband. It also signified her subordination to him in many matters. For example, a wife was legally obliged to live wherever her husband chose, as well as to maintain the home and submit to her husband’s sexual demands. The husband also had the right to control and physically discipline the wife. In return, the husband was obligated to financially support the family. Wives had no control over property, even if they had owned it before marriage.

In the late 1800s reformers challenged this patriarchal legal tradition and secured passage of Married Women’s Property Acts in the United States and elsewhere. These laws gave women control over property they had owned and brought into marriage, as well as earnings they made outside the home. But these laws did not make husbands and wives legal equals. For instance, a husband could still legally forbid his wife from working outside the home. Laws in Western countries did not begin to reflect marriage as a bond between equals until the middle of the 20th century.

Even as women’s legal status gained parity with that of men, other factors increased the distinction between the roles of husbands and wives. During the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries society began to shift away from a household-based economy. In pre-industrial times the family worked together as an economic unit—for example, running a farm. Although the man was considered to be the head of the family, husband and wife both contributed their labour to the family enterprise. The development of the factory system and the growth of cities led to the separation of work and family. This division in turn led to a sharp contrast between the roles of men and women. The pattern of man as breadwinner and woman as housewife subsequently became the cultural ideal of marriage.

Many scholars believe that the central issue in marriage in Western countries today is the redefining of gender relations. Society is in the midst of a difficult transition away from older patterns of marriage, especially male dominance and the division of labour that prevailed in the industrial era. In the United States and other industrialized democracies, one of the most striking social and political developments of the 20th century is the rise in status of women. Both economic and political trends have undermined gender inequality. The shift to a post-industrial, service- and information-oriented economy has drawn increasing numbers of women into the workplace. Modern democracies no longer deny basic rights to women on account of gender.

In response to these changes, analysts expect marriage to become increasingly symmetrical, with greater equality of partners and less stereotypical gender roles. Already women are no longer confined to the role of homemaker and men are not solely defined as the breadwinners. However, women’s lives have changed more than men’s have thus far. The shift of women into the workplace has not been accompanied by comparable change in men’s roles inside the home. Studies indicate that although men have increased the amount of housework and childcare they do, an imbalance remains.

Importance of Intimacy

The transition from traditional to modern society has increased society’s emphasis on love as the basis for marriage. The concept of romantic love exists in all cultures but is usually not linked to marriage. Love is often portrayed as a dangerous emotion that can end in tragedy. Historically many people in Western societies have also been suspicious of marriages based on love, despite the glorification of love in songs and stories. Passion and romance would quickly fade, many people believed, leaving the couple with a lifetime of regret.

After 1800 a new ideology of marriage gradually took hold. It arose as the result of a variety of social and economic factors associated with the rise of modern society: the shift of work out of the home, the growth of urban living, and the spread of democratic ideals of equality and individual rights. Companionship and emotional satisfaction came to be seen as the criteria for successful marriage. The companionship model of marriage also results from demographic shifts—that is, changes in the characteristics of the population. As the average life span increased and people had fewer children than they had in the past, couples began to experience a prolonged period during which marriage continued without the presence of young children. Compatibility with one’s partner became increasingly important.

As companionship marriage became the norm, people who failed to find satisfaction in their marriages became more likely to consider divorce. Divorce rates in the United States began to rise in the mid-1800s. Each succeeding generation since then has had a higher proportion of marriages end in divorce. The trend has only recently levelled off. A majority of divorced persons remarry, however, suggesting that divorce does not reflect a rejection of the institution of marriage but rather a preference for a different marital partner.

LEGAL ASPECTS

Looked at in historical perspective, the role of government in marriage is a relatively recent development. In Western Europe before the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, the Catholic Church presided over marriage. Under traditional pre-Christian practices, in some parts of northern Europe weddings took place in private homes, with elder family members or local officials presiding.

Under the federal system of government in the United States, the individual states regulate marriage. Virtually all states require that individuals must be 18 years of age before they can marry. Persons below that age must obtain parental permission. To obtain a marriage license, most states require individuals to undergo a blood test for rubella and syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease.

Many states also require a waiting period of one to five days between the issuing of the license and the wedding ceremony. The marriage must be formalized before a qualified official in either a religious ceremony or a civil wedding. The couple must register a marriage certificate with the government after the wedding ceremony.

Virtually all states ban marriages between certain blood relatives, such as between parent and child or brother and sister. All states prohibit bigamy—that is, a marriage in which either partner is already married. In the 1967 decision of Loving v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that laws prohibiting interracial marriage were unconstitutional.

ALTERNATIVES TO MARRIAGE

Although marriage in contemporary industrialized societies usually requires religious or legal recognition, or both, some couples may live together as if they are married and not seek formal approval of their union. In recent years, living together as an unmarried couple, known as cohabitation, has become a widespread practice. In the United States roughly half of all newlyweds have lived together before marriage. Some jurisdictions legally recognize common law marriage. Laws in such places consider couples married if they have lived together for a certain length of time.

Several European countries have passed legislation to recognize homosexual unions. Such legislation generally refers to homosexual unions as registered partnerships rather than as marriages. These unions usually do not entail the full array of rights to which heterosexual married couples are entitled. In 2001 The Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriages. A new law eliminated references to a person’s sex in the legal definition of marriage and granted same-sex married couples the same rights that heterosexual married couples have in areas such as inheritance, taxes, divorce, and pension benefits. The law permitted same-sex couples to adopt Dutch children, but not children from other countries.

In the United States and Canada, marriage between partners of the same sex is not legally recognized. Homosexual “marriage” provokes intense political controversy. In the United States, religious conservatives who believe that the Bible forbids same-sex relationships constitute the most outspoken opponents of gay marriage. These critics, who fear that the recognition of gay partnerships threatens the institution of marriage, have spearheaded legislative efforts to explicitly restrict the definition of marriage to heterosexual couples.

In 1996, the Congress of the United States adopted the Defence of Marriage Act, which allows states to enact laws that deny recognition of same-sex marriages obtained in other states. More than half of the states have adopted such legislation. However, gay-rights activists continue to work toward legal recognition of same-sex marriage. In 2000 Vermont became the first state to allow gay partners to join in a civil union that grants them the same legal rights that married heterosexual couples have. See Homosexuality.

Although same-sex marriages are not legally recognized in the United States, an increasing number of local governments and private corporations recognize domestic partnerships for both homosexual and heterosexual unmarried couples. This recognition allows members of a committed but unmarried couple to enjoy some of the practical benefits enjoyed by married couples, such as insurance, hospital visitation privileges, and inheritance rights. Despite increasing acceptance, domestic partnerships have not been accorded the broad social and legal approval that marriage generally receives.

MISCEGENATION

Miscegenation is intermarriage or extramarital relations between people of different races. In modern times miscegenation has been regarded with strong disapproval in many nations of the Western world, and social ostracism and prohibitive legislation have been employed to prevent such unions. The prejudicial attitude toward miscegenetic marriages stems mainly from obsolete conceptions of race and heredity. Also contributing to the attitude are white supremacy theories, and the inferior social status commonly imposed on dark-skinned people, and consequently on the children of mixed marriages, in various nations throughout the world.

In the United States, restrictive legislation against miscegenation originated during the period of slavery in colonial times. These laws were designed to protect the right of the slaveholder to the offspring of the slaves, and the laws included severe penalties. Statutes passed subsequently in the majority of the states declared miscegenetic marriages void, purportedly to preserve racial purity. Most of these statutes were directed against blacks, but some applied more broadly to include all non-white people. Between 1942 and 1967, 14 states repealed their antimiscegenation laws. In 1967, the Supreme Court of the United States declared antimiscegenation laws unconstitutional.

An American psychoanalyst, Erik Erikson, proposed a related series of psychosocial stages of personality growth that more strongly emphasise social influences within the family.

Erikson’s eight stages span the entire life course, and, contrary to Freud’s stages, each involves a conflict in the social world with two possible outcomes. In infancy, for example, the conflict is “trust vs. mistrust” based on whether the baby is confident that others will provide nurturance and care. In adolescence, “identity vs. role confusion” defines the teenager’s search for self-understanding. Erikson’s theory thus emphasizes the interaction of internal psychological growth and the support of the social world.

Psychoanalytic theories offer a rich portrayal of personality growth that emphasizes the complex emotional—and sometimes irrational—forces within each person. These theories are hard to prove or disprove, however, because they are based on unconscious processes inaccessible to scientific experimentation.

(See more on this in our book HOME MANAGEMENT AND PROGRESSIVE HOUSEWIVES, Volume 3.)

Contributed By: Arlene Skolnick & Kenez Danmbaezue

An Intro To Renascent Igbo Religion

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

A PIECEMEAL CONTINUATION OF THE 664 BOOK ENTITLED PSYCHOMETRIC FAMILY COUNSELLING BY DR KENEZ AND HIS COLLEAGUES...

CHAPTER SIX

Childbirth

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

MISCEGENATION

No comments:

Post a Comment