Boston marriage: what is it?.
Boston marriage is a joint, long -term residence of two women in the same territory. He became popular at the end of the 19th century on the territory of England, during a period when women strove for independence and looked for a way out of a complex financial situation. Joint life made it possible to stay afloat, close all the basic needs, take care of children. Often, Boston marriage was used by lesbians in order to conceal their non -traditional relations, which were condemned at that time especially fiercely.
Boston marriage as an attempt to get out of dependence
Patriarchate for a long time forbade women to receive education and work, which led to a total dependence of a woman on her husband. She did not have the opportunity to provide herself and her child, experienced difficulties in conducting everyday life and could not count on psychological assistance in the form of an elementary understanding and respect. The ambitions of married ladies were destroyed in the bud.
Around 1870, the girls received the right to education and work, which partially untied their hands. There was one small problem of married women still remained strongly dependent on her husband, and unmarried ones did not have sufficient autonomy for full existence.
It was in these conditions that a new type of union was born, which included two women united by common goals. It could not be called romantic, because there was usually no intimacy between such ladies. These were heterosexual girls who conducted joint life and budget, helped each other, helped out, and assisted. Typical family, but without sexual connotation.
Boston marriage in the modern world
Fortunately, these days of women are much better respected than it was in the 19th century. Social guarantees and the ability to receive education do not allow active and purposeful girls to find themselves in a difficult situation. Therefore, in its original interpretation, Boston marriage no longer exists.
However, the joint living of women can still be found. For example, when students want to save on a rented apartment settled together, they, in fact, organize the same Boston marriage. If these are close friends who have a joint budget and organized life, then we can talk about this term.
Although, of course, we all perfectly understand that Boston marriage has gone the past and remained in the memory of those who studied the history of the development of society. The difficult and dependent position of the girls gave a beautiful statistics about the low percentage of divorces, but with a heavy load lay on the psyche of the fair sex.
No romance..
Sometimes Boston marriage is mentioned in the context of a romantic relationship, where two lovely ladies live together and are happy in this union. Sometimes people fantasize about this format of relationships, giving it erotic shades.
In fact, all this is a black spot in history, when staying with a child in her arms or alone, the girl had nowhere to go. It was impossible to survive and the creation of an alliance with another woman gave at least some chances of a normal life. There is no romance here. Although, someone probably found his advantages in this.
Writers Sarah Juvett and Annie Fields not only survived, but also created together. The first became the author of the popular novel, in which she described this type of union and partially explained why girls fall in love with girls. But still, Boston marriage is a story about how a person found a way out of a complex financial situation.