What's So Grand About Marriage?

Amanda Marcotte doesn't understand:

Sure, marriage chauvinists can point to things such as marriage's impact on health and well-being, and to the fact that married men are less anti-social. I'm skeptical, though, because these kinds of studies lump all nonmarried people into one group.  People who are in long term, committed relationships without that piece of paper are put in the same group as people who've never held a relationship together.  I want to see apples to apples comparisons.  How do unmarried people who've been together for five or 10 years hold up next to people who have been together that long but tied the knot in their first year or two together? That people are giving up on marriage doesn't mean they've given up on love or commitment.  In fact, many of us believe our commitments are made stronger by the fact that they are only to each other and not to an institution.

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