<< Demeaning of sex work has an effect of romanticizing
marriage. >>
bingo. actually, the romanticization of marriage is a relatively recent phenomena -- it arrived in this country roughly about the time the housewife myth was developed amongst the upper classes in boston about the middle of the 1800s. Marriage was traditionally a contract -- a lucrative, MONEY contract in almost all countries until well into the twentieth century (money being dowry or bride price) with the rights and duties of the husband and wife either spelled out or commonly accepted. Women received support for life as long as they performed their wifely duties. i.e., they were paid for sex, amongst other items (these depended on the class of the family). Further, embodied in the concept of the family wage as a gender specific/male notion, [which Wotjek has pointed out will not change to a gender free concept any time soon], is the idea that a man can PAY his wife to stay in the home and perform home production and one of those assumed duties is sex.
maggie coleman mscoleman at aol.com