Keith502
Keith502 t1_ja4pjad wrote
Reply to comment by jezreelite in Weekly History Questions Thread. by AutoModerator
Thanks for the info!
Keith502 t1_ja0kh5l wrote
Reply to comment by jezreelite in Weekly History Questions Thread. by AutoModerator
Good information. Thanks for the response.
Keith502 t1_ja0kd9z wrote
Reply to comment by shantipole in Weekly History Questions Thread. by AutoModerator
Thanks for your response. Would you happen to know of any particular books or any specific fields of research that pertain to my question?
Keith502 t1_j9z4jlg wrote
Reply to Weekly History Questions Thread. by AutoModerator
OK, I recently uploaded a post to r/history but the mods took it down for some reason and then referred me here. I think it's an important historical question, so I still wanted some input. The question is as follows:
In most of the Western world, the path of a man and woman to becoming married typically begins with a relatively casual, informal encounter between them. After this informal encounter, the man and woman begin engaging in dating activities and begin referring to each other as “boyfriend” or “girlfriend”. This relationship is initiated by the couple themselves and organized by the couple themselves. The interpersonal chemistry and intimacy between the man and woman gradually grows throughout the duration of the dating process. At the couple’s discretion, the man and woman may or may not include sexual intercourse as a part of their dating process. Whether or not the couple have sex while dating is usually of little concern to anyone else beside themselves. If things between them don’t work out, they informally break up; if things do work out, the man, of his own accord, will likely ask the woman to marry him. Whether and when they get engaged is entirely at the discretion of the couple themselves. The choice of the couple getting married is typically based on their mutual chemistry and love for one another.
This is more or less the custom of romantic courtship that most of the developed world is familiar with. But it’s my understanding that this custom is not the way it has always been. From ancient times, it appears that arranged marriage was the norm for how a man and woman got involved in a romantic relationship that would lead to marriage. Typically, a bachelor or his parents would go to the parents of the woman that the bachelor wanted to marry and would offer the woman’s parents a bride-price. (Or alternatively in some cultures, the parents of a woman would offer a payment of dowry to the family of a bachelor to give away their daughter in marriage to the bachelor.) The beginning of the relationship was arranged largely from outside the couple by family members of the couple, rather than the man and woman directly choosing each other. The initial encounter between the man and woman appears to be more formal and organized. After the bride-price or dowry is paid and the man and woman are now betrothed, a marriage date between them is planned upon. Often the man and woman know each other very little, if at all; thus there is often little or no real chemistry or romance between them at the time of marriage. The couple get socially acquainted with each other after their marriage instead of before. The woman is often forbidden from fornicating, and is expected to maintain her virginity while still a maiden, and only give up her virginity to her betrothed as a consummation of their marriage. This preservation of her virginity ensures that her husband’s eventual heir is genuine and will be able to carry on the husband’s bloodline. Furthermore, the woman’s virginity is of great concern to her parents, as the betrothal of a virgin daughter will fetch a higher bride-price for the family; alternatively, a non-virgin daughter may be of far less value, if she can even be married away at all. The betrothal between the man and woman is essentially a formal monetary transaction between the families of the man and woman. The couple’s relationship has less of a romantic purpose and more of a social purpose, involving the covenant between the two families in order to ensure a progeny and a family life for their respective son and daughter.
Here’s my question: At some point in history the arranged marriage system became phased out in most of the developed world and was replaced by the more informal system of men and woman getting girlfriends and boyfriends, respectively. When did this happen? Why did this happen? What social or historical forces led to this change in how people engaged in romance? How did the concept of the "boyfriend/girlfriend" develop?
Keith502 t1_ja5e7z1 wrote
Reply to comment by GSilky in Weekly History Questions Thread. by AutoModerator
Would you say that the rise of feminism or the women's rights movement had any influence on the shift towards dating and love marriage?