Being Monoga Anonymous Analysis

In The Importance of Being Monogamous: Marriage and Nation Building in Western Canada to 1915, Sarah Carter approaches the concepts of sexuality and civilization through ‘what is the proper way to approach having sex’. People who are civilized are obligated to follow the set of rules which defines a civilized society. ““A viable society depends on stable families, which depend on stable marriages”” (2). Marriage is the most crucial factor in differentiating between civilized and uncivilized sex. According to the state, being civilized means that men and women are in monogamous relationships and legally recognized as married; whereas, being uncivilized means that a man or a woman are in polygamous relationships and conducting immoral and “improper”

The concept of marriage of the “powerful husband and the submissive wife” model is ideal for the Western social order. This concept makes prevention of the promiscuity of women, especially indigenous women. By denying the validity of divorce and remarriage of indigenous women, “the control of husbands was enhanced, and the alleged promiscuity of Aboriginal women, their freedom to form new relationships, was significantly diminished… The disease and uncleanliness of these women, as assumed by Burbridge, would be contained… Aboriginal women would have less opportunity to breach rules of conduct and violate the normative framework of gender relations” (167). Eventually, indigenous women are the main threat to Canada’s social order becomes “contained” within the Western concept of monogamous marriages. This would contain all their immorality and

Women are especially perceived as the cause for social order disruption due to their “uncontrolled” sexual habits outside of marriages which can cause diseases. They are also seen as unvirtuous women who had too much freedom. “Attached to the idealized monogamous model of marriage were ideas about sexuality and morality, particularly the restriction of sexual intimacy to one man and one woman who were married for life. Women who “lost their virtue” before marriage were regarded as “utterly destitute of moral principle” (25). Sexuality is controlled by the state though blaming women for having too much freedom. “[…] the representation of Aboriginal women as prostitutes and as an immoral, corrupting influence. If there was immorality and depravity, these women were to blame, not white men, because, it was claimed, they were prostitutes before they went to live with white men […] Women who had sexual relations outside of marriage, or who had more than one partner in her lifetime, could also be labelled prostitutes” (153). Indigenous women are especially perceived as women with too much freedom which causes them to have more sex outside of marriage with multiple