“There is no opinion so absurd that a preacher would not express it” -Bernie Katz
Sam Schulman wrote an op-ed for the Christian Science Monitor in which he criticizes the recent Prop 8 ruling in California.
Schulman claims that marriage isn’t about two people who love each other. Instead:
“Marriage is not about couples or lovers – it’s about the physical and moral integrity of women. When a woman’s sexuality is involved, human communities must deal with a malign force that an individual woman and her family cannot control or protect.”
So, I’m supposed to get married (to a man) because that man will protect my…sexuality? I find that somewhat troubling since, as a woman, I’m more likely to be assaulted by my husband than by a stranger. If, as a society, we are relying on husbands to protect the “physical and moral integrity of women,” then we’re really being let down.
He goes on to say:
“Modern marriage is only the least worst version of marriage that has emerged from all this – but it is still necessary for women. What protects women, ultimately, is that marriage laws and customs confer upon her independence something extra – dignity, protection, sacredness – that others must respect. And if this quality can be bestowed upon anyone, even those not in intersexual relationships – it reduces, even dissolves its force.”
If marriage is supposed to be about protecting me, I’m marrying my 80 pound half Rottweiler, half pit bull. He’s a heterosexual male, so Schulman ought to be pleased.
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