Wife Culture, Marriage & Relationships

I never wanted to be a wife, but I’m definitely a wife. I’m the only person in my house who knows where we keep the batteries. I’m the only one keeping track of whose underwear supply is running low. I’m the emotional anchor of my family, a role I love but which I sometimes fill at my own expense.

Lately I’ve been wondering how it all happened. How did I become a wife? I mean, I know why I got married (my partner was having visa problems), and how I got married (in a municipal office in a random town in Cyprus). But I was wondering about the cultural forces that conspire to make people still want to get married – particularly women, to whom the institution of marriage has not always been kind. As part of that wondering, I’ve been researching the history – and pre-history – of wives, and wifedom’s lasting impact on women, on relationships, on culture and on the endurance of misogyny. I have a lot more to say about this subject, and hopefully will do just that in a researched nonfiction book.

I’ve also published articles about wifedom, relationships and marriage. Here are a few favorites: