Six Marriage And Family Texts example essay topic

Ehrlich, Carol. "The Male Sociologist's Burden: The Place of Women in Marriage and Family Texts". Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 33, Issue 3, Sexism in Family Studies (Aug 1971), 421-430. In her article "The Male Sociologist's Burden", Carol Ehrlich examines the idea of women as found in six marriage and family texts; her findings show that these texts, although they claim to be purely factual "compilations of the accumulated knowledge of social science are... primarily collections of folklore and social stereotypy" (430). She compares and contrasts the messages of each of her sources, whose publication dates range from 1964 to 1968, using them to support or counteract one another, ultimately showing how pigeonholed the woman figure is. Ehrlich begins her article by taking a look at each author's set of beliefs as defined in their texts.

She starts with examining William Kephart's study of parallels in animal and human sexual behavior, or parallelism, as found in his book The Family, Society, and the Individual. From his survey, he deduces several general statements that basically sum up to the female being less responsive, from courtship to intercourse. Should the woman decide to initiate sexual activity, Kephart believes it will ruin not only society but the marriage as well. Ehrlich suggests that Kephart may not be too clear on the basic differences in sexuality between men and women, noting that "If he were, there would seem to be no need to make dire prophecies about the effects of 'continued liberation' upon America morality" (423). She shifts her attention to Gerald Leslie's The Family in Social Context, a work that seems to support Kephart's diminution of the female role in sexual interaction. His piece, she claims, is subtly biased.

While discussing jus prime noc tis, the "custom of a high-status male having first crack at a new bride" (423), and sexual hospitality, Leslie only mentions the possible horrors from a man's point of view: that the bride may be ugly, fat, or dirty. Ehrlich observes that "lurking in all this are two implicit assumptions: (1) that the male by definition is a real prize, and (2) that whether the female had any opinions about being so used by a male who might be fat, dirty, ugly, obese, or toothless is irrelevant" (423-4). In addition to Kephart and Leslie lacking understanding, so does William Kenkel, author of The Family in Perspective. He touches on many points that Ehrlich believes illustrates his ignorance: he places blame solely on a woman for her illegitimate children, claiming it is her psychiatric problem, never mind the unmarried father. He also claims that frigid women are often inundated by what he dubs "a strong masculinity complex" (424), stemming from penis envy.

From Richard Udry's The Social Context of Marriage she finds more proof of the asexual female, as he believes that sex is unimportant and secondary to a wife. Yet he differs from the above authors in that he accepts the ability of overcoming these biological factors, equaling the sex drive in men and women. Ehrlich continues through to Lloyd Saxton and his work, The Individual, Marriage, and the Family. She points out his contradictory notion that while the American couple must sort out what roles they feel important to them (a husband may enjoy cooking and cleaning while the wife may want to join the work force), a married person may prefer a clear division of labor, meaning gender roles. She next looks at how these authors next address the issue of mate selection, marriage, divorce, and family.

Ehrlich once more notices and criticizes the inferior, negative roles of women in these areas as defined by each text. The main belief is that women are fortunate to marry whoever chooses them and the changing status of women is dangerous to both society and the marriage, as women will fall from their pedestal and chaos (caused, ironically enough, by men whose ugly nature will be unhampered) will reign. The final matter addressed is that of working wives. It seems that despite the fact that the income of women is significantly lower than that of men, Kephart and Saxton believe equality has been gained, though girls still prefer marriage to careers. The authors never bother to explain that the economic inequity is the cause of this.

Kenkel, supported by Leslie, looks at how a job may impair a wife's duties as mother and caretaker, suggesting that she should only add to the total income. Udry mixes all these beliefs, blaming women for the circumstances that prevent a woman from finding a full-time job. In a cynical quality upheld throughout the article, Ehrlich looks at several aspects of women relating to sex and marriage, flawlessly blending her sources to seem as if they are supporting one another. Her tone remains constant throughout, a mixture of disbelief, disgust, and disdain, while continuing to formulate a logical, intellectual argument.

She clearly presents her information, making obvious the flaws and fallacies of the authors by questioning the validity of their statements and pointing out the facts carefully omitted. The article is a bit circular. She sums up each author's point of view, then goes through and defines how he fit into her selected categories. This redundancy adds to the length of her article, already enhanced by her scholarly writing style.

However, her thorough examination of the stereotypes of women seen in these works proves to be and effectual, powerful piece.