One of the key themes to emerge in relational biographies is the dynamic nature of the circumstances in which partners relate and ‘do’ their relationships and marriages (see Chapter 2). Relational biographies also contained stories of how parents’ relationships and marriages had changed over time. Escalating conflict, abuse, alcoholism, affairs and the like could lead […]

One striking aspect of our participants’ relational biographies was the extent to which their parents’ approaches to relating and marriages featured as central influences. For example, Daniel (202a) linked his previous ‘abusive’ relating tendencies to his father’s; Robert (202b) artic­ulated his need to be in a relationship as one he had ‘inherited’ from his mother; […]

As discussed in Chapter 1, one strong sociological narrative that has emerged from previous studies of same-sex relationships is that partners must ‘invent’ their relationships from scratch. This has been linked to the lack of cultural guidelines and social supports for lesbian and gay identities and relationships, and implies the possibility (or even neces­sity) of […]

For Delphy and Leonard, the point is that ‘marriage is a relationship between men and women who because they are men and women do different things; who because they do different things are unequal; and who because they are unequal are seen as different sorts of human being (one more human than the other)’ (ibid). […]

A striking feature of the stories of Hanna and Tammy, Kathryn and Louise and Fredrick and Tim is their confidence in their ordinariness. Hanna and Tammy’s story is of an ordinary relationship that is actively embedded in mundane practices linked to mutual family care, local commitments and supports for the couple. Their story is also […]

Fredrick is a 36-year-old white man who works in communications and earns a higher than average salary. His partner Tim is a white 33 year-old who works in finance and earns a higher salary. They met seven years ago over the internet, and were ‘married’ two years ago. After ‘going out’ together for a couple […]

Hanna and Tammy (108a and 108b) Hanna is a 26-year-old white woman who works in social care and has a low income. She is in a partnership with Tammy, aged 29, a white woman who also works in social care and earns an average income. They ‘married’ ten months before the interview. Neither use ‘lesbian’ […]

Overall, the personal stories generated by our study highlight how, in practice, civil partnership can be understood as a form of marriage. Despite the fact that civil partnership is technically distinct from mar­riage, the majority of partners viewed themselves as married and had taken to ‘marriage’ like ducks to water. Of the 100 partners, 74 […]

In our study of young same-sex partners in formalised relationships, we partly set out to explore the ways in which the partners conceived and practised their relationships as ‘like’ and/or ‘unlike’ marriage. In light of the findings of previous studies of same-sex relationships, and some of own research on previous generational experiences, we were taken […]

In line with modernist frames for understanding relationships, existing empirical studies of heterosexual married relationships suggest they are highly gendered and support unequal relations between men and women (Duncombe and Marsden, 1993; Duncombe et al., 2004; 1999; Mansfield and Collard, 1988). Despite changes in the ideologies of gendered work, intimacy and democratic personal relations, research […]