Single Marriage Research Articles

Discretionary maternal citizenship: state hegemony and resistance of single marriage migrant mothers from mainland China to Hong Kong

ABSTRACT This article contributes to the scholarship on marriage migration and citizenship by drawing attention to an under-studied group of single marriage migrant mothers who are widowed, divorced, or separated from their citizen-husbands. It examines the ways in which nation-states regulate the dissolution of cross-border marriages and allocation of citizenship rights to single marriage migrant mothers. Drawing on the experiences of 25 mainland Chinese single marriage migrant mothers, this article unravels the dynamic process of citizenship negotiation between top-down state hegemony and single marriage migrant mothers’ bottom-up resistance to the exclusionary immigration system in Hong Kong by claiming maternal citizenship through state discretion. As the article illuminates how discretion has been used as a strategic mechanism by both the state and single marriage migrant mothers to negotiate the boundaries and substance of citizenship, it offers insights into how the family becomes a critical site where citizenship is experienced, negotiated, and contested.

Comment on the Single Marriage Statute: Implications for Customary Marriages

The South African Law Reform Commission is currently canvassing views on a potential single marriage statute that would reconcile the several enactments currently regulating marriage in South Africa. This comment considers the implications of the proposed Bill for the regulation of customary marriages. It argues that the definition of a marriage / life partnership may be under-inclusive and must be expanded to included polygamous – rather than polygynous – relationships without a religious or cultural basis and life partnerships where the partners are not cohabitants. Furthermore, while the Bill is commended for requiring a husband to obtain the consent of existing wives before he enters into a further customary marriage, the Bill must give meaning to the notion of consent. Finally, the Bill must address existing issues within the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 120 of 1998 which have invalidated a range of customary marriages too often at the expense of women.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LONELINESS LEVEL AND DECEPTION TENDENCIES IN MARRIED INDIVIDUALS

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the level of loneliness and the tendency to deceive in married individuals. 270 volunteer married individuals participated in the study. The data of the study were collected by using the Deception Tendency Scale and UCLA Loneliness Scale and the analyzes were performed through SPSS package program. Results show that males' tendency to deceive is significantly higher than females, and loneliness level does not differ significantly according to gender. Both the tendency of deception and loneliness levels of the individuals who had multiple marriages were significantly higher than the individuals who had single marriages. In addition, there was a positive relationship between loneliness and tendency to deceive. Finally, it was found that the tendency to deceive predicts loneliness to a meaningful level.

Marriage of a Thousand Lies by SJ Sindu

Reviewed by: Marriage of a Thousand Lies by SJ Sindu María Isabel Alvarez (bio) SJ Sindu. Marriage of a Thousand Lies. Soho Press "Let me tell you something about being brown like me: your story is already written for you," says Lucky, the narrator of SJ Sindu's debut novel, Marriage of a Thousand Lies. Set in New England during the 2012 presidential election, the story is a contemporary Bollywood narrative that places a lesbian woman in the traditional role of leading male. The daughter of conservative Sri Lankan parents, Lucky is married to her gay college friend, Kris, in an arrangement based on façade and mutual convenience. After her grandmother endures a nasty fall, Lucky decides to move back into her mother's house and soon engages in a tumultuous game of sex and emotions with her childhood best friend, Nisha, who happens to be engaged. Despite its title, Marriage of a Thousand Lies is not a story about a single marriage, or even a single relationship, but of Lucky's ongoing struggle to reconcile her sexuality with the Sri Lankan Hindu community to which she belongs. Lucky has many strong-willed women in her life, the first being her mother, Amma, who embodies every cultural and social convention Lucky so vehemently defies. Chastised by her Sri Lankan Hindu community for being divorced, Amma is Lucky's greatest challenger and a constant source of conflict: "Amma cries about wanting me to have a baby, to fit in for once in my life and be a good brown daughter" (149). The tension between Lucky and Amma intensifies when, midway through the novel, Lucky begins spending more and more time at the rugby house, where her friends Tasha and Jesse live. For Lucky, the rugby house is a sanctuary, a place where her queerness is protected and embraced. Using her body as a way to release the tension built from home, Lucky finds escape in playing and practicing rugby, and she develops a close friendship with fellow rugby player Tasha. At one point, Lucky seeks Tasha's help in finding Lucky's runaway sister, Vidya, who'd disappeared years prior in an attempt to flee their family's conservative ideals. Lucky embodies the extreme qualities of both her sisters, Shyama and Vidya, submitting to her family's cultural customs by marrying a Tamil Indian man, like Shyama, while privately living life by her own rules, like Vidya. The women in Lucky's life not only inform her decisions, they symbolize Lucky's internal conflict of desiring both acceptance and autonomy. [End Page 188] While Lucky and her husband, Kris, masquerade as the happy couple, Lucky's best friend, Nisha, miserably prepares for her wedding. The archetypal femme fatale, Nisha is different from the other women in Lucky's life in that she is more readily willing to sacrifice her own happiness in order to satisfy the desires of those around her. While Lucky is more comfortable embracing her unique identity, sporting an androgynous hairstyle despite her mother's objections, Nisha cloaks herself in conformity. Though engaged, Nisha desperately pursues Lucky while continuing to plan her extravagant wedding, balancing on the cusp of two vastly different worlds without ever fully committing to either one. With each of Nisha's jealous tantrums and desperate pleas to flee together, the gulf between Nisha and Lucky widens, allowing for other players, like Tasha, to wedge themselves in the middle. Though at times Nisha's behavior borders on juvenile, Lucky, more than anyone, empathizes with her best friend/lover's ongoing internal conflict. In describing queerness, Lucky says, "Most people think the closet is a small room. They think you can touch the wall, touch the door, turn the handle, and walk free. But when you're inside it, the closet is so vast. No walls, no door, just empty darkness stretching the length of the world." Because of their shared history of sex, religion, and culture, Lucky finds it increasingly difficult to abandon Nisha, risking the backlash that will surely unfurl should anyone in their community discover the true nature of their relationship. Structurally, Marriage of a Thousand Lies is loosely framed like...

The level of knowledge and views of the street children/youth about AIDS in Turkey

The purpose of this study was to discover the level of knowledge and views of the street children and youth in Turkey about AIDS. Five focus group discussions were held with 44 children. On the data collection form there were questions about their age, status of working and living status on the streets, gender, source of information about AIDS, high-risk groups, and knowledge on the ways of transmission and getting protected from AIDS. According to the study results, more than half of the participants (56.8%) did not have any knowledge about AIDS. 63.6% stated that they received their information about AIDS from public media. In addition, the participants of this study listed the main causes of transmission of AIDS as having sexual relationship with prostitutes (22.3%) and sharing razors, toothbrushes, footwear, food (27.6%). When asked the ways to protect oneself from AIDS, 28.9% stated that individual hygiene was very important while 21.0% stated not sleeping with prostitutes, single marriages, and condom use were very important ways to protect oneself from AIDS. 37 children of the total participants stated they were also at risk for AIDS. The main reasons of defining themselves at risk were being substance addicts (24.3%) and unhygienic practices (21.6%). The main conclusion of this study is that street children/youth have insufficient and incorrect knowledge about transmission and protection from AIDS and risk groups.