'' Minimizing Marriage: Marriage, Morality, and the Law '' is a 2012 book by

Elizabeth Brake Elizabeth Brake is an American philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at Rice University. She is known for her works on ethics and political philosophy. Brake coined the term amatonormativity to describe the widespread belief that everyone is b ...

in which the author provides an "in-depth examination of marriage, within the context of contemporary ethical and political theory."

Reception

The book was reviewed in ''

Ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

'', ''

Hypatia Hypatia (born 350–370 – March 415 AD) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician who lived in Alexandria, Egypt (Roman province), Egypt: at that time a major city of the Eastern Roman Empire. In Alexandria, Hypatia was ...

'', ''Humana Mente – International Journal of Philosophical Studies'', ''Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews'', ''

Philosophy in Review ''Philosophy in Review'', formerly ''Canadian Philosophical Reviews'', is an English-language online open access journal, that specializes in the review of books about philosophy. It is published six times a year and covers all areas of and approac ...

'', ''

Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...

'', ''

Res Publica ', also spelled ''rēs pūblica'' to indicate vowel length, is a Latin phrase, loosely meaning "public affair". It is the root of the ''republic'', and '' commonwealth'' has traditionally been used as a synonym for it; however, translations var ...

'', ''

Social Theory and Practice ''Social Theory and Practice'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that features discussion of theoretical and applied questions in social, political, legal, economic, educational, and moral philosophy, including critical studies of classical and c ...

'', ''

Journal of Applied Philosophy The ''Journal of Applied Philosophy'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Society for Applied Philosophy and co-edited by Avery Kolers (University of Louisville) and Tina Rulli (University of Californ ...

'', ''

The Philosophers' Magazine ''The Philosophers' Magazine'' (''TPM''), an independent quarterly magazine founded in 1997, aims to provide a venue for philosophy in an accessible and entertaining format. The founders were Julian Baggini and Jeremy Stangroom. The magazine inc ...

'', ''

Journal of Homosexuality The ''Journal of Homosexuality'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering research into sexual practices and gender roles in their cultural, historical, interpersonal, and modern social contexts. History The founding editor-in-chief was Ch ...

'', and ''APhEx Portale Italiano di Filosofia Analitica Giornale di Filosofia''.

Cultural impact

In the book, Brake coined the

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

term

amatonormativity Amatonormativity () is the set of societal assumptions that everyone prospers with an exclusive romantic relationship. Elizabeth Brake coined the neologism to capture societal assumptions about romance. Brake wanted to describe the pressure sh ...

, defined as "the widespread assumption that everyone is better off in an exclusive, romantic, long-term coupled relationship, and that everyone is seeking such a relationship." The concept has been particularly impactful for

aromantic Aromanticism is a romantic orientation characterized by experiencing little to no romantic attraction. The term "aromantic", Colloquialism, colloquially shortened to "aro", refers to a person whose romantic orientation is aromanticism. It is d ...

people, as Amatonormativity is said to be connected to devaluing familial, platonic, and

queerplatonic Queerplatonic relationships (QPR), also known as queerplatonic partnerships (QPP), are committed intimate relationships between significant others whose relationship is not romantic in nature. A queerplatonic relationship differs from a close ...

friendships/relationships.

References

External links

* 2012 non-fiction books Ethics books Oxford University Press books Books in political philosophy Books about the philosophy of sexuality Books about marriage Books about same-sex marriage {{philo-book-stub