I wonder if this is sort of a second-order outcome of earlier times, in which a marriage was culturally understood as dominated by the husband. In which, therefore, an *unhappy* marriage was most likely to be an unhappy woman coupled with an oblivious (even if not abusive) man.
This is perhaps the same idea as previous commenters were saying about women being required to marry. But from the other end. Women in that era would have a very clear notion of the woman in the "this is what I've got, and it's all I'm going to get" life. The first-order reaction to that is feminism, but that doesn't obviate the notion of that life as the thing to avoid.
(Note: all speculation. I grew up in the 70s/80s, and I've never been married. I don't even want to extrapolate from my own life here, because I am not typical and so my position probably doesn't reflect general culture. Even *my* general culture, meaning geek types.)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-03-13 04:49 pm (UTC)This is perhaps the same idea as previous commenters were saying about women being required to marry. But from the other end. Women in that era would have a very clear notion of the woman in the "this is what I've got, and it's all I'm going to get" life. The first-order reaction to that is feminism, but that doesn't obviate the notion of that life as the thing to avoid.
(Note: all speculation. I grew up in the 70s/80s, and I've never been married. I don't even want to extrapolate from my own life here, because I am not typical and so my position probably doesn't reflect general culture. Even *my* general culture, meaning geek types.)