Ingraham

This whole article is kind of humorous to me because I apply it to how my sister has been raised and she still has managed to come out opposing the idealistic norms of society. My sister has just turned 30, been dating the same guy for about 10 years, and they have recently bought a house together. They are on each others insurance policy has 'partners' or whatever the paperwork requires they label themselves, but they have no interest in getting married. I see no problem with that, but I know society would push for their marriage. Our mother has sort of accepted my sister's choice and now all the pressure is on me to get married and I don't like that. Based on the reading, you'd have to agree that male and female expectations are different.

I also can't disagree with the reading in that the media (tv, movies, magazines, toys, etc.) play up the expectations of the ideal wedding day. But do you think recent media has down-played these expectations at all? We are at a time where reality TV dominates the airwaves and there are several shows that seem to break wedding stereotypes. Bridezilla type shows show that wedding planning can be crazy and hectic and not as fairytale-ish they thought they were going to be. Then MTV True Life series documents couples from time to time who share different religious backgrounds or their families are two different ethnicity.