Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2009, 45(4): 671-706 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2009.45.4.03

The Genealogy of Marriage

Sharon Marcus
Columbia University, USA

The article investigates the practice of female marriages in 19th century Great Britain and United States and argues that female marriages provided model for more progressive forms of the legal marriage between men and women. Unlike homosexuality in the 20th century, the same-sex relationships between women in the 19th century often enjoyed social recognition and some women in female marriages occupied prominent social positions. Because they were considered to rest on contract, female marriages served as inspiration for the contractual view of marriage advocated by many supporters of the Victorian marriage reform. The contribution of women in female couples to the success of the marriage reform was further underlined by their belonging to influential social networks. The author also argues that while the structuralist anthropology of mid-20th century, represented through the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss, had limited understanding of homosexuality as a socially legitimate phenomenon, the Victorian anthropology of the second half of the 19th century was relatively more open regarding the same-sex relationships. It is contended that authors as diverse as Henry Maine, Johann Bachofen, or Frederick Engels provided impulses in their work both for a positive evaluation of the same-sex relationships and for a more egalitarian understanding of marriage.

Keywords: female marriages, social history of marriage, GLBT studies, Victorian studies, social anthropology - history of.

Published: August 1, 2009  Show citation

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Marcus, S. (2009). The Genealogy of Marriage. Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 45(4), 671-706. doi: 10.13060/00380288.2009.45.4.03
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