The Marriage Strike - Why Men Are Not Rushing to the Altar

If one were to read any article by the average woman in the media – and some males for that matter – regarding the declining state of marriage rates today. One could reasonably think that the reason marriages are on the decline is that women are choosing not to get married or some other such tripe that ineffectively attempts to hide the truth of the matter. (Ayanna, G. 2010), (Dewitt.1992), (Rosenbloom, 2006), (Campbell, 2001) The actual reason for the decline in marriage rates is not because ‘women don't want to get married’ (a bitter anthem recited in retaliation to men's rejection of marriage.) but due to "The Marriage Strike." According to an article in “O” magazine author, Ann Marsh notes, "A 'marriage strike' is the social phenomena of men seeking to avoid marriage. The 'marriage strike' specifically refers to the action of men living within the Western world.” (Marsh, 2003 p. 2) Advocates of the marriage strike believe that after a considered cost-benefit analysis, the legal contract that is modern marriage no longer represents an attractive option for men. Especially when considering the legal, economic, sociological, cultural and demographic environment of the West in regards to marriage. Advocates hold that through the combination of laws permitting no-fault divorce, and the prevailing conditions in divorce courts that substantially favor the wife over the husband in disputes over child custody, visitation rights, child support, alimony, ownership of the family residence and other shared property (Rosenbloom, 2006). It is possible for a woman to divorce her husband unilaterally while simultaneously depriving him of the right to see his offspring and financially crippling him (Rubin, 1997). They argue that since the divorce rate is high, and since women are more likely than men to seek no-fault divorces are, scenarios like the above are a likely outcome of marriage, and that many men, fearing such an outcome, choose not to marry. So we see that the

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