Why do modern brides often experience an identity crisis?
As Gloria Steinem said when she got married recently, for decades and decades up to our mothers’ generations, marriage very well could subvert a woman’s desire to be her own person. And I think still our society looks at it as the be-all-and-end-all way to live your life. Research shows you can be perfectly happy single all your life and not improve your health by being married. Gloria Steinem now feels what used to be an institution now has enough Lycra in it to expand, grow, change or move with you. I think we still have to be a little on guard, but I do not think it’s automatic like it used to be, that you surrender your job, sense of self, sexuality, friends, everything for marriage. Now it’s seen as enhancing your lives with someone you love rather than sacrificing all to enter into a union. The title of your book lists more than half a dozen sources of conflict between new brides and grooms — sex, money, in-laws, to name a few — and you say the conflicts are normal, even health
