Essay Sample: The Evolution of Marriage

HIV/Aids Pandemic in the Southern United States

In the recent days southern, United States has been hit with the HIV/AIDS epidemic, this is mostly attributed the conservative nature of the people from the southern United States. This conservative attitude limits sex education as a majority of the people view sex as a topic as a taboo topic. In order to reduce this, public speakers have been assigned by the HIV preventions and education department of Mississippi. The public speakers speak to students, church groups and any other groups of people who are old enough for sex education aiming to inform them about the HIV/AIDs epidemic, its dangers and ways it can be prevented. In cases where people are already infected they are offered with counseling and information on how to take good care of themselves and the people around them. "break down barriers on chocolate bar at a time" carl gains (2011) is a term that is used to describe the method that the public speakers use to discuss sexual matters in public without offending anyone.

Marriage in the Early 1900s

Contrary to what people believe, love and marriage are two different things, being married does not necessarily mean that two people love each other. "On rare occasions does one her of a miraculous case of a married couple falling in love after marriage" Emma Goldman (1910). The author refers to marriage as an economic agreement as most women get married to get financial assistance from their husbands and that the woman pays for this arrangement by changing her name. in my opinion, this is far from the truth as there are no cases where people get married and they did not love each other. Such cases would be considered as forced marriages, on the other hand, there are also cases where the woman earns more than her husband. This would contradict the point Emma Goldman's claim that women get married only to get financial support.

Marriage in the Twenty-First Century

In the recent years, the idea of marriage has changed, this can be blamed mainly on the change in the role of men and women in the society. Tamara Winfrey (2012) posed the question "why can's a successful black woman can't find a man", this question indicates that majority of the women who are not marred are successful black women. This would mean that the reason women are not married is that they are successful. In the past, most marriages involved a setup where a man was the provider of the family. This has changed in the recent times as women have also become capable of providing for the family, in my opinion, this change can be one of the reasons why fewer people are getting married.

The Evolution of Marriage Over the Last 100 Years

Emma Goldman, a writer from 1910 described marriage as a business transaction that was meant to secure a woman's financial future in exchange for her changing her name and deducting her life to her husband. This article dates from over 100 years ago, and marriage was depicted as a transaction, but more people were getting married as opposed to the number of people who are getting married today. According to Tamara Winfrey "in 1960 72% of all adults were married today just 51% are". These two articles demonstrate how the world has evolved and how people's perception about marriage have changed over time, the role of a husband has changed as the modern woman gained the ability to provide for the family.