Stephanie Coontz

Well, I've been studying the history of family life for many, many years, but I specifically got interested in marriage as we got into these debates about what traditional marriage was.

Marriage originally arose in more egalitarian band level societies as a way of sharing resources and establishing peaceful relations with groups that you might otherwise only see occasionally and you might not know if they were going to be friends or enemies.

I marry my child off to you and that means you owe me things but I also owe you things.

Well, then Caesar died, and Mark Anthony came along.

And, of course, the story tells that she seduced him.

But, you know, when you really look at what was happening practically, this was another political alliance.

First, as did Caesar.

And Anthony could rule in his place.

So it was a great big political alliance, just like Game of Thrones.

So people who were bakers married other bakers.

This clip you used is perfect because it illustrates the fact that men found it easier to embrace the love match than women did.

Men could marry down because they could go out and earn wages.

Women had to be very, very cautious.

You know, as you could say, my heart inclines to Harry, but, you know, I'd better marry who my parents want me to and the person who is most likely to be able to support me.

And so there was a prolonged period of time where men actually were more romantic than women in the courtship arena.

And you got this new theory that love was a union of opposites.

Well, absolutely.

But what's interesting about this clip is that the concept of the male breadwinner was unknown before the 19th century.

Women worked in the home, but so did men.

And men didn't go out and bring home the bacon.