Health And Sex And The Affects Marriage example essay topic

Response to Predators and Nurturers In "Predators and Nurturers" by Sylvia Ann Hewlett arises the question of if it is beneficial for men and women to be married or single? The argument is made that marriage is good for men and bad for women that are educated. Hewlett uses recent research to argue and support her findings, and I would have to agree with her that marriage is beneficial to both sexes. Marriage has shown to be beneficial to men and women physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially. Overall I think the author does a good job of citing events from the past and present that are a concern of married and single people. "Predators and Nurturers" emphasizes how marriages were viewed in the 1970's and how marriages are viewed today.

The essay mainly focuses on how marriages that were once beneficial to only the male are now showing a move toward being beneficial to females as well. Hewlett argues toward the side that says marriage today can be exceptionally good me men and women. At first she focuses mainly on the female and shows how in the past marriage has been know for making women depress and lowing their self esteem. She also went on to explain how marriage limited women's pursue of self-development. Hewlett shows the effects of the women first because she is trying to throw out the idea that women have it so bad since the old view of marriage was so negatively pointed toward women. Then she fast forwards to more recent research and compares the benefits of males and females how are married.

Hewlett thoroughly takes into account money, health, and sex, and the affects marriage has on them. The only problem with her finds is very few people have been exposed to this information about the benefits of marriage. Since people accepted the early views of marriage as "fact" this new idea of thinking has not be widely spread. Hewlett uses two other authors to help present the side of her argument that marriage is more beneficial to men than women.

Jessie Bernard, a sociologist in the early seventies first brought about this notion in her book The Future of Marriage. Here she stated that "in ever marital union there are really two marriages, his and her, and his is a whole lot better than hers". Also in the early 1970's, Bernard argued that marriage was like a "low-grade fever" which slowly but surely wore women down physically, mentally, and emotionally. During the same time feminist groups spoke on the issue that married women are severely limited in the area of self-development, and radical women had the audacity to say that marriage constituted "slavery" and "legalized rape".

Another view of this subject came from Betty Friedan's book, The Feminine Mystique, where she says that a "fifties-style marriage" can be crippling to college educated women because their hard work to achieve their degree is being wasted on common household chores that could be accomplished by an eight year old. These authors's research provides strong support to Hewlett's argument. Then Hewlett fast forwards to present day and mentions forty years have gone by and women have achieved many freedoms inside and outside of the home. She starts with the issue of mental health.

Recent studies show that women are happier when their married and not depressed, contrary to old statistics. A study from Rutgers University in 1996 show that young men and women who got married and stayed married had higher levels of well being than those who remained single. Also another study by David Blanch flower and Andrew Oswald over the 1970's to the 1990's showed that the well being of women had dropped during this time do to more and more women being single. Further proving that during the 1970's to the 1990's marriage was not favorable for women. Additional areas Hewlett considered were money, health, and sex. Marriage is an obvious benefit to women from a financial perspective.

Men on the other hand seem to perform better and work longer hours when married than single men. Thus resulting in bringing is a significantly larger amount of money. In addition men and women who are married are much healthier. Couples from every culture live much longer than the unmarried.

The final area of concern is sex. Studies shows that both men and women have more intense and emotionally satisfying sex than singles who change partners frequently. Also married couples have sex more often showing to be beneficial to both sexes. This is a great argument to get married by it self.

Our society is being more and more open with sex and people are jumping into marriage and becoming increasingly satisfied with their spouse. This essay has brought efficient research to answer the question of whether of not it is beneficial for people to marry instead of stay single. As the author says, "marriage can be an exceptionally good deal for both men and women". I completely agree with her and believe marriage should be looked upon as a gift from God. Marriage today is a sacred union between a man and a women of their choice, and is developed by a couple who is in a beneficial, love and intensely romantic relationship. Work Cited Hewlett, Sylvia Ann.

"Predators and Nurturers". Creating a Life: Professional Women And the Quest for Children. (New York: Talk Miramax, 2002), 186-193. Rpt. Perspectives on Argument. Ed.

Nancy V. Wood. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2004.478-480.