Love the thread title.
I'll maintain my stance that there simply is no standard stance that can be called completely correct in this case. Perspectives and power imbalances in marriages differ from relationship to relationship and culture to culture. Most marriages as well as "true" domestic power, however, remains mostly within the control of men because men, on average have access to more wealth, social mobility, and traditional social power. When a man commits abuse against a woman in a marriage it is still more likely that they will be "punching down" as it were. When you get outside of the West, this condition only increases in severity in most cases.
At the same time, shifting stances and an increase in female freedom has paved the way for female exploitation of traditionalist sentiments in the court and in the home. I won't reiterate all of my points, because I'm rather lazy, but I also don't want to qoutepost myself for fear of mass pinging people that I replied to before. Please read the derailed thread.
So why would anyone want to get married in this day and age? Please see the bottom of my long post in the derailed thread and the Elphelt example.
