RELIGION AND LIFE
3 - MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY
Changing attitudes to marriage and family life -
1960's -
- Young people were expected to only have sex after marriage
- Most people married young and in church
- Divorces were very rare and frowned upon
- Families were nuclear (husband, wife and children)
- Male homosexuality was a criminal offence
How attitudes have changed -
- Most people have sex before marriage
- Many couples cohabit instead of marry - more children brought up by cohabiting parents
- Average marriage age has decreased
- Most marriages don't take place in a church
- Divorce is accepted and a lot more common
- More single parent families and re-constituted families
- More extended families
- More mothers in employment
- Society treats homosexual sex the same way as heterosexual sex
- Homosexual couples can now have a civil partnership - same rights and treatment as an opposite-sex couple
Why things have changed -
1 - Cohabitation and marriage
- Contraception - safer to have sex before marriage
- Less people go to church - not encouraged to abstain from sex until marriage
- Media and celebrities make cohabitation seem more respectable - more popular
- Media shows sexual relationships outside marriage as the norm
2 - Divorce
- New laws - now easier and cheaper
- More equality for women - no longer accept unequal treatment from men, will divorce if abused etc.
- Women are more financially dependant, can support themselves after a divorce
- Most divorces occur 10 years after marriage - big change in average
3 - Family life
- Cohabitation more popular
- Increase in divorce - more re-marriage and therefore more re-constituted families (as well as single parent families)
- More mothers in paid employment - grandparents look after children
4 - Homosexuality
- Law changes - easier to be openly homosexual
- Society more aware and accepting
- Medical research has shown that homosexuality is natural - people accept equal status and rights for homosexual couples
- Media coverage of gay couples - increased acceptance
- Gay rights organisations (eg: LGBT(Q) )
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