At home, whenever I see my mom and dad together, then my first thought is, ” I want such a solid relationship in my life.” However much they fight, however much they hate each other, at the end of the day, they just want to be together. But, one more thought comes to my mind since childhood, after seeing them together, where did this concept of marriage come from? is marriage invented to control women?
One day who thought that from now on, people will exchange vows together and will bear each other for the rest of their lives. I am sure this thought must have crossed your mind someday. So let us do this thing, let us try to solve this dilemma where did this concept of ‘marriage come from? or Marriage Invented To Control Women?
How long has the Institution of marriage existed? and When was the first marriage recorded?
In the olden days, people had many issues regarding security. Lack of economic security, Property rights security, and even the security of protecting their bloodline. and these security issues are understandable because at that time, finding a well-off, well-to-do family was very hard. That is why in society, a new system was made so that a man and a woman can be united together in a legal and socially sanctioned union.
The oldest evidence of this legal and social union is around 4350 old. But experts say that the concept of marriage can be even 1000s of years old. Anthropologists believe that 1000s of years before this concept of ‘union’, there were some loosely organized groups in every family. And in those groups, there were around 30 members. The leaders of these groups were men and those men used to go out hunting and protect their families as well. All these leaders had many shared wives and that is why they had a lot of children as well.
Over time, as evolution started pacing up, even these groups started to realize that they have to now lead a more organized life and they can not just depend on hunting for survival. Now, slowly these groups started settling nuclearly into stabilized groups. But, just because they were living nuclear lives they could not give up basic human needs, like reproducing.
That is why the concept of marriage was made then. The first ever recorded marriage took place in 2350 BC in Mesopotamia. Slowly, humans started understanding and liking this concept. That is why slowly over the next 100 years it grew all over the world. Now, in this institution, the basic needs of humans were being matched along with stability.
That is why, other civilizations like Roman, Greek, and Hebrew started adopting these concepts. And today, you can see how this institution of marriage is very widely celebrated in every corner of the world. What were marriages all about back then? Today’s date, we know that marriages are based on the foundation of love. Two people need to be in love to take a big step like marriage. But, this is about the current times.
Like, As I mentioned above, marriage was done at that time just for stability. It was such an institution where a man and woman were legally bonded so that the woman can become the property of the man who can guarantee him, biological heirs. In ancient greek marriages, during the marriage ceremony, a father would hand over his daughter by saying this- ” I pledge my daughter for producing legitimate offering.” But, if this wife is not successful in producing offspring, then the husband had the full right to return the woman to her home and marry someone else.
If you think carefully about this ancient concept, then this is the wrong thing that women were used as a child-bearing commodity. Apart from ancient Greek, even in ancient Hebrew culture, it was allowed that they could take up as many wives as possible. Similarly, married Greeks and Romans were even allowed that to satisfy their sexual urges, they could use concubines, prostitutes, and male teenagers. Now, in between this you must be thinking that what about the wife who was married off and brought home? Well, they were expected that they do not go out of the house and only look after the house.
marriage invented to control women
When did religion enter the picture?
Now, let us see how religion entered the concept of marriage. Because int he ancient times, when this concept of marriage was new, at that time, anybody could marry anyone, no matter the religion. As long as the benefits that were expected from the marriage, are fulfilled. Budiscoveringtime pa, people started doscoveing theirs based on religions. And slowly, on the basis of these faiths and religions, groups started forming.
Apart from the institution of marriage, even the Christian church had become a massive institution in Europe. And it had become clear to people that now, this Christian church will start taking interest in math images and actively participate happened And going forward, the same happeneth ned. Approxicenturies somewhere between 8th to 12th century, the church declared that marriages are a salegalizingnctioned by God.
The church’s legalize changing was a huge step towards changing society. Especially for women. When women were still being trated as a commodity, Church now t get men how to their women and how to respect thier wives. Not only this, they were not even allowed to divorce thier wives.
This concept of marriage was based on Christian Doctrine- “The twain shall be one flesh“. This meant that- Husband and wife had exclusive access t each other’s bodies. And that is why metoward their pressured to be faithful towards thier wife. But still, there was one condition here that men will be the head of fulfilling lies with the wives having to fulfull all of their wishes. But still, this was a very big legal amendment at that time in the concept of marriage.
So did love enter the picture after these amendments? Love made a very late entry into the concept of marriage. That too because marriages for the longest reasons were only done for a practical reason but not for love. After the Christian sacrament, there was an improvement in marriages. Because of this, after many years marriages started to happen only because the partners felt deep mutual love towards each other and also devotion to each other.
Many experts say that those who introduced the concept of love in people’s marriages and life were the French. In the middle ages, many such literary texts were written in which the concept of love was introduced and in that, men were advised that if they like a girl and want to woo her, they have to talk about her physical traits and appreciate them. The Middle ages were the time when men were discovering the deep-rooted emotion of ‘love’ within them. And back then, they did not know that love would change the course of their relationship forever.
Did love change marriages? or Marriage Invented To Control Women ?
The answer would be, a big gat YES. Love was the only concept that not only improved marriage but also moderns day relationships. And especially for women, because now they got higher leverage in relationships This happened because now, one gender in front of another gender did not need to be submissive. Both genders were equally invested in that relationship.
Now, the work of women was not just to serve their husbands and took after the household a narrative charge was happening when men had to woo their partners and do things to impress them. But, even after so many traditions and changes somewhere in their minds people had threatening thoughts which were going on for 1000s of years, that the husbands owned their wives. This was because in many parts of the world, the system of “Coverture” had not been dissolved. And this meant that a woman had to give up on her identity and name to absorb her husband’s name after marriage.
This system meant that after any marriage, the representative of that relationship is now the husband. The system of coverture is still an integral part of our society, where women have to give up on their middle and last name to take up the surname of their husbands.
When and how did commodifying women change?
Many things were changing in history, and worldwide, even the position of women was changing. Their voice was being heard, they were given more legal rights, and they even got the right to vote. Many changes in marriages are going on in the institution of marriage, but women getting the right to vote was a very big transformation. Now, women were also getting the power to men the head of the family, just like man. Slowly, laws to protect women were also made. husbandmen were only married off to husbands to satisfy their sexual needs, now the concept of marital rape also came in and even a law was made against it whereinto the husband could not force him into sexually active forms.
Where women women were stopped for taking birth control measures, now laws were established there to protect women’s legal rights. And until now, women were strictly following overture system, but then names started taking up their band’s names without giving up on their own. Slowly and steadily, people started seeing the right place for women, and the same-exposing not to mess with them.
Same sex marriages in modern times:-
Gay marriages are not many kings and queens some many kings and queens had openly expressed their love towards the same gender. But slowly, all this became a taboo in society. Historically, a lot of nations were invading each other. And whenever any invader would invade their region, they would also leave their ideologies there. And this practice of invasion is the main cause of also many taboos being spread around the world.
And because of these taboos, people in society are gay doing them, coming out to society, and doing same-sex marriages had now become criminalized. But still, many governments ever time realized that people who area gay are also equal citizens of their not everyone holds the same realization everyone else.
After this realization, many parts of the world legalized same-sex marriages as well as started celebrating them. And the looks exactly what modern-day marriage look like in most of the world. Now you can marry anyone because of any reason. And if you look at the entire timeline of marriages as a concept, we have come a long way. Yes, these changes did take time but it was all worth the wait.
Conclusion of the topic Marriage Invented To Control Women ?
So this was the timeline of the concept of marriage so far, from start to end. And I think you got the answer to your question is Marriage Invented To Control Women? But, we still have not reache the end of the concept of marriage because still, there is a lot of room for improvement. There is a lot to see, to add, and to change, for the better. Indeed, we will all be able to witness this in the next few coming decades. I am sure it will be fun to read this content. And if you like it then do not forget to share it with your friends and comment on it. Next time you will get an interesting topic.
