but what to make of a relationship where one party provides regular sex in exchange for food and a place to stay
Sounds like one idea of traditional marriage. The woman promises to provide sex and the man promises to provide. Some feminists (e.g. Germaine Greer) have described this arrangement as prostitution.
Sounds like one idea of traditional marriage. The woman promises to provide sex and the man promises to provide.
I think this view of “traditional marriage” comes from fetishizing the 1950s, Leave-it-to-Beaver nuclear family. Go back a bit further and you’ll find the aristocrats marrying for political reasons while a peasant’s household required everyone to work long hours each day.
No, what you described is a trophy wife, a way for a man to signal his wealth by having a wife who can spend her days being idle.
Sounds like one idea of traditional marriage. The woman promises to provide sex and the man promises to provide. Some feminists (e.g. Germaine Greer) have described this arrangement as prostitution.
I think this view of “traditional marriage” comes from fetishizing the 1950s, Leave-it-to-Beaver nuclear family. Go back a bit further and you’ll find the aristocrats marrying for political reasons while a peasant’s household required everyone to work long hours each day.
No, what you described is a trophy wife, a way for a man to signal his wealth by having a wife who can spend her days being idle.