Title: How marriages have changed: past, present and future
Headings: Changes, including re-definitions, of
marriages since before biblical times

Marriages
Changes, including re-definitions, of
marriages since before biblical times
Overview:
The significance of marriage:
Types of unions:
The origins and types of marriage:
Who could marry? -- from the 19th century until now:
Related essay:
More recent trends in U.S. marriages
References:
Go to the previous page, to the marriage menu, to the same-sex marriage menu, or choose:
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Content: In the Western world, many couples meet, find themselves attracted to each  other, decide to date each other exclusively, engage in sexual activity, decide to form a  permanent relationship, and move in together, and perhaps marry (not necessarily in that order). In the vast majority of cases, the couples are of opposite genders. However, a small but growing percentage of couples who wish to marry are of the same gender. Marriage has been continually evolving. It has gone through many changes and redefinitions over the past 15 decades: Most couples are made up of one woman and one man; some are of the same gender; a relative few are polygamous, either group marriages (any gender combination of more than 2 persons), polygynous (one man, multiple women), or -- very rarely -- polyandrous (one woman, multiple men). Most couples are of the same race. But it is only since the Civil War that African Americans were allowed to marry anywhere in the U.S.
Other marriages are interracial.