The Transformation of Marriage
What if you could marry anyone--or anything? A cultural historian
examines the human impulse to make commitments and how it could alter our journey to the
altar.
By Stephen Bertman
he meaning of the word marriage has altered, as have the questions its
usage evokes. Had this essay on the future of marriage been written decades ago, a reader
might have assumed it was about the then-increasing rate of divorce. We have come to live,
after all, in a society of transience, one in which traditional human institutions are
attacked and eroded by the swift and accelerating current of stress-producing change.
But more than the transience of marriage is at issue now. It is the very
definition of the term that futurists must now address. A radical redefinition of marriage
is now under way that promises to transform its meaning for all future time.
***
Interspecies Marriage
It has been said that the dog is man's best friend. As evidence, pet cemeteries
exist where the last remains of loyal and loving pets have been interred with a measure of
dignity and respect equal to that accorded to human relatives and friends. The licensing
of pet ownership has long been a function of government, and some pet shops carefully
screen the intentions and character of prospective human applicants before granting them
rights to pet adoption. Pets, moreover, have sometimes been named as beneficiaries in
their masters' or mistresses' wills.
Why then, one might ask, should not an individual choose to affirm the
emotional attachment he or she feels for a pet with the formality of a documented ceremony
in which the human partner promises to love and honor the animal companion? Though the
devoted pet would be unable to verbally acknowledge its willingness to enter into such a
relationship, affidavits could be obtained from witnesses attesting to the caring and
affectionate bond between pet and owner. Such a contract could be construed as providing
the basis for greater legal protection for the pet in the event of a human partner's
death. Animal-rights activists might well serve as advocates to secure such protection. In
addition, during their lifetimes, the pet and its owner could wear matching license tags
(like wedding rings) as tokens of their bond. (In fact, one Web site encourages human-pet
commitments: www.Marryyourpet.com.)
Though the notion of a companionate union between a human being and an
animal of different species may seem sacrilegious, a close reading of Genesis 2:18-25
reveals that, before God created a woman to be a "help meet" for man, He
experimented by creating a series of other living beings that proved unsatisfactory and
unequal to the task. It was only then that God created woman.
To propose the possibility of interspecies marriage is not to demean the
desire of human couples, whether heterosexual or homosexual, to marry. Rather, it is meant
to suggest that the concept of marriage as a socially and spiritually sanctioned
partnership need not be restricted to humans alone if the partners to the arrangement are
bound by a clear sense of loving and lifelong commitment.
. . .
About the Author
Stephen Bertman is professor emeritus of languages, literatures, and
cultures at Canada's University of Windsor. He is the author of Climbing Olympus: What
You Can Learn from Greek Myth and Wisdom (Sourcebooks, 2003), which may be ordered
online at www.wfs.org/bkshelf.htm.
