Strange Bedfellows: Marriage in the Age of Women's Liberation

Alison Lefkovitz

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 2018

Strange Bedfellows

Marriage in the Age of Women's Liberation

Alison Lefkovitz

In the series Politics and Culture in Modern America

https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812295054

Overview
Contents

About this book

Strange Bedfellows recounts the unlikely ways in which the efforts of feminists and divorced men's activists dovetailed with the activity of lawmakers, judges, welfare activists, immigrant spouses, the LGBTQ community, the Reagan coalition, and other Americans, to redefine family and marriage without relying on traditional gender norms.

Author / Editor information

Alison Lefkovitz teaches history in the Federated History Department at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University-Newark.

Reviews

"The legal evolution of marriage in the United States is as old as the Republic. But beginning in the 1960s, the pace of legal change accelerated with the universal adoption of no-fault divorce. Strange Bedfellows traces this unfinished revolution, highlighting the roles played by men as much as women in challenging the gendered obligations of marriage. As Alison Lefkovitz brilliantly shows, even as the breadwinning/homemaking model of marriage was dismantled for the privileged with decidedly unequal results for women and men, it was redeployed against the poor, especially racial minorities, immigrants, and LGBTQ couples. Placing the legal revolution of marriage firmly in the economic, cultural, and political transformation of the 1960s to the present, Lefkovitz offers a sobering picture of marriage as Americans' fundamental social safety net."—Barbara Young Welke, University of Minnesota

"Strange Bedfellows offers an original perspective on the post-World War II 'marriage revolution.' By focusing on the interactions of feminist advocates, 'men's rights' groups, legislatures, and the courts, Alison Lefkovitz insightfully charts the emergence of new policies toward divorce, alimony, and marital property. In so doing, she reveals the disparate and harmful impact of marriage reform on the poor, racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, and gay couples. This is an important and timely book."—Kathy Peiss, University of Pennsylvania

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. The Problem of Marriage in the Age of Women’s Liberation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
Chapter 2. The End of Breadwinning and Homemaking Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
Chapter 3. Blaming Feminism for the Fragile Family Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
Chapter 4. Race, Welfare, and Marriage Regulation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
Chapter 5. Sham Marriages, Real Love, and Immigration Reform Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
Chapter 6. Gay Marriage and “Homosexual Households” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Conclusion. The End of Marriage as We Know It Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271

Language: English
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 280
Illustrations
- Other: 8 illus.
Keywords: American History; Women's Studies; Gender Studies; Law; American Studies; Gender Studies

eBook

Published: March 21, 2018
ISBN: 9780812295054