This book explores the regulation of intimate relationships today. Using historical and contemporary legal-political sources, the author investigates the changing meanings and effects of conjugality.

Samesex marriage is a topic receiving a huge amount of attention in this country right now, and will not disappear from the agenda anytime soon Will appeal to scholars and students in both sociology and women's studies, and possibly a small subsection of politics and law Brook looks at the similarities and differences in a wide variety of intimate relationships (marriage, same sex partnerships, de facto relationships, domestic relationships), something which has not been done before

Autorentext
Heather Brook is Senior Lecturer in the School of Social and Policy Studies at Flinders University, Australia.

Klappentext
Conjugality explores the legal shape of marriage as it has been determined by countless decisions concerning entry and exit into the ancient rite. Heather Brook examines the countless rules and protocols governing marriage that make it valid in the eyes of the law. She argues that the various sexual performatives associated with marriage can establish, reinforce, or rupture conjugal unity while exploring the historical and politcal regulations and prohibitions marriage has faced. Brook unites past and present, public and private, to investigate the changing meanings and effects of conjugality, and challenge the way we think about sex, gender and relationships.

Inhalt

1. Introduction
2. Theorizing Conjugality
3. Making Marriage
4. Sex Magic
5. Marriage Beyond the Pale
6. Fault
7. No-Fault
8. Cohabitation
9. Same-sex Marriage
10. Conclusion