Young people haven't given up on marriage. Monogamy is still of great value to marriage and society. Monogamy and marriage endure constant attacks, which frequently lack substance or logic, from determined progressives, yet commitment and marriage still prevail.
Amy Otto takes on the six most common myths about monogamy in a post at The Federalist, exploring the benefits of monogamy and society's need for marriage. Most young people do want to get married, contrary to sketchy polls that indicate otherwise, and popular fallacies about monogamy do not render monogamy archaic or a waste of time.
Six myths about monogamy are that it is dead because we are living longer than ever; it is only possible because of hormones, and those fade; other animals aren't monogamous, so there's no need for humans to be, either; "science-sounding stuff must be true"; the redefinition of marriage will make man-woman couples re-think fidelity; and people marry to meet all of their needs.
Otto writes:
Unrelenting denigration of marriage as an institution has been an obsession of “progressive” folks for some time. They tend to use whatever blunt instrument is handy to push the ideal of marriage out of the public square. Whether it’s in the name of feminism, gay marriage, or naïve hipsterism, a full-frontal assault on the institution, not just by gay-marriage-minded folks, but by those who truly don’t believe the standards of marriage like monogamy are possible, has only intensified.
[...]
Believing that marriage is a purely transactional relationship based on mutual-needs gaps is the precise thing leading to the illogical assumption that monogamy and marriage are dead ends.
The next time you see yet another piece declaring monogamy is “dead,” remember the writer wants you to lower your expectations. But marriage and its necessary component, monogamy, are still the best game in town.
