Do you think the younger generation's views on marriage is because of our parents?

The authors of the study referred to in the previous question speculate the same thing.

No, the younger generation can do the things that were supposed to be done during marriage, so they see it as insignificant. Why waste time on one person when you can have a plethora of people? It’s saddening. I’m physically from the younger generation, but I’m an “old soul”. I believe in marriage and the way it should be.

It was always just as easy to get into a marriage. It just wasn’t as easy to get out. Having it be easier to get out of now seems like a positive to me, because of how many people were stuck in bad marriages and couldn’t do squat.

I think that plays a part in it, for sure. Seeing the rate of divorce increase can cause people to think that marriage is not worth it, especially if their parents have had a bitter divorce that negatively affected them.

Also, people may not want to have much to do with an institution that is so ingrained in religion when many people are not religious (and others may be disillusioned with an institution that discriminates against homosexual relationships…)

For me it’s an anti-authority thing. My parents have been married for nearly 40 years now, so it’s not like I dislike marriage because kids made fun of me at school for having divorced parents or anything like that. High divorce rates could be a factor, but for me it has nothing to do with it.

Watch George Carlin on swearing on the bible if you want to understand my point of view better. Marriage is just make believe to me. A couple go in to a building and come out “married”. what has changed? nothing. The only difference is it is now “official” that they are a couple according to some stranger’s made up rules. and the couple are $10.000+ out of pocket.

I have a friend who is “married”. he calls his girlfriend his wife, and she calls him her husband, but they never went to court or church or the registry office, they just decided that they are now married. No papers work, no strangers, no rules or laws, but the result is the same, they both made a commitment to each other and stuck to it, the only difference is there is no file in some obscure government building.

@poisonedantidote And they are missing out on the tax deduction.

@marinelife well, not quite. If they lived in the USA or the UK they no doubt would, but where I live “we pay taxes too” wink

Also, the point you raise also plays in to my anti-authority point of view, to me, they would not get a tax deduction, rather they would be taking a bribe to let the government have a say in their life.

EDIT: they are however missing out on a few things, such as getting a mortage with more ease, and having a couple more rights when it comes to a break up.

@poisonedantidote I completely agree with you it makes complete sense to me. The only problem I see happening is that if one were to get sick the other wouldn’t have the authority to make life decisions for the other because there is no legal tie.

I’m certain that’s part of it, as is growing view of men as little better than sperm donors.

@mrlaconic Yes, a very valid point indeed. But then again, your point holds even more water when applied to other countries. Here on Mallorca things are a little different.

If something like that did happen, it would only take a trip or two to court to get things changed.

It’s very hard to explain, you really need to live here to understand it. Mallorca is part of Spain, but it is semi independent, and it’s very relaxed, and al rules are flexible. If you could show bills that you have been living together for 10 years and make your case to the judge and what not, you could have rules changed.

This makes it all a little hard to share my point of view on some topics like this, in a way, i don’t live in the real world.

EDIT: post made shorter so to not derail thread.

I think a lot of it is more that women no longer need to get married so they’ll be taken care of, and men no longer need to be married to ensure a legitimate heir. It can take a couple generations to get rid of the idea that this institution is needed.

@CaptainHarley As opposed to the Milena-old view that women are little more than wombs?

I believe that people my age and younger look at the divorce rate among our parents, and we don’t want that for ourselves, so we’re not as quick to jump into marriage. We want to make sure we’re with the right person before we make that commitment.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I agree with you. The divorce rate seems high because until the mid twentieth century, divorces were not commonly obtained. I’m sure that if people had the option of divorce in the past, then divorce rates would’ve been roughly equivalent to those we have today.

[mod says] Flame bait and all responses to it have been removed.

I definitely think that my negative opinion of marriage is because of, not only my parents failed marriages but many others around me. Even the marriages that stayed together until “death us do part” (my Grandparents for example) weren’t necessarily happy marriages more like tolerating each other.