In your own way to reflect upon the following question:

What is marriage?

Yet each of this week’s readings gets at the question above in some way by highlighting out various issues and meanings of marriage in different historical moments. As you address the question above in your post, it might help to consider one or more of these questions:

• What is marriage for? Does this change for different people or groups?
• What is the relationship between marriage and power?
• What expectations do you have for marriage? Do your friends or family have expectations for you regarding marriage?
• What are your preconceived notions of love and marriage? How have the readings for this week challenged those notions?

In this 500-word forum post you should include specific examples from at least two of this week’s readings. In addition to these two examples, you may also include additional examples from your own observations or from other readings.

You must properly cite the readings to receive full credit. Citations should look like this: (Garcia 61) or (Garcia 2012: 61), for example. If you are paraphrasing a very general idea in the reading, you do not need to include a page number. However, direct quotes always require citations, and paraphrases of very specific ideas should have citations as well. (Paraphrases can be harder to know when to cite, so being extra cautious may help take off some of the stress.)