From the New York Times:
For insights into healthy marriages, social scientists are looking in an unexpected place.
A growing body of evidence shows that same-sex couples have a great deal to teach everyone else about marriage and relationships. Most studies show surprisingly few differences between committed gay couples and committed straight couples, but the differences that do emerge have shed light on the kinds of conflicts that can endanger heterosexual relationships.
The findings offer hope that some of the most vexing problems are not necessarily entrenched in deep-rooted biological differences between men and women. And that, in turn, offers hope that the problems can be solved.
Notably, same-sex relationships, whether between men or women, were far more egalitarian than heterosexual ones. In heterosexual couples, women did far more of the housework; men were more likely to have the financial responsibility; and men were more likely to initiate sex, while women were more likely to refuse it or to start a conversation about problems in the relationship. With same-sex couples, of course, none of these dichotomies were possible, and the partners tended to share the burdens far more equally.
While the gay and lesbian couples had about the same rate of conflict as the heterosexual ones, they appeared to have more relationship satisfaction, suggesting that the inequality of opposite-sex relationships can take a toll.
The irony of this just tickles me. Click here to read the entire story.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Great article! Yes, I read the whole thing, and it just confirms what I (and others, I know) have suspected for quite some time: same-sex marriage is only going to make the institution of marriage stronger, for everybody. Mixed-race marriages taught us we can overcome differences in a relationship, and thus also made the institution that much stronger. Now we're teaching that biological differences (or similarities) shouldn't get in the way of how we treat our significant other.
ReplyDelete