Matt Walsh’s vision: compulsory arranged marriages, no divorce

Matt Walsh is one of those right-wingers who thinks rape trauma is really shame because the woman doesn’t want to admit she’s become a slut. Siding with rapists is a good way to ensure women can’t refuse sex, even if the right-wing outlaws birth control along with abortion.

Apparently that’s not good enough for Mr. Walsh. Along with crushing the right not to get pregnant, he’s not fond of the right not to get married or even to choose your spouse: arranged marriage, that’s the way to go! “We would be happier — every person in the dating scene right now would be happier if they were just matched up with someone against their will.” He also advocates for the end of no-fault divorce, making it a lot harder for those matched-up c0uples to end the relationship. As noted at the link, it’s a common right-wing position; LGM points out just how hard divorce was before no-fault, even if your marriage was a train wreck.

This is the dream of many right-wingers who think wives are male property. As long as a wife has the power to walk out, their authority depends, to some extent, on her voluntarily accepting it. If she doesn’t accept it, she’s free to leave. Some men can’t stomach that — even if the spouse is abusing her, she shouldn’t be able to escape her lord and master.

Of course, arranged marriages and no-divorce bind the man as well as the woman (I guarantee you, Walsh is not looking for arranged gay marriages to become a thing). Given that misogyny is the root of their faith I take it as a given right-wingers are more concerned with binding the woman than the man. It’s the same way, as Christian feminist Samantha Field puts it, that chastity in purity culture is an obligation on both genders, but men aren’t going to be slut-shamed if they don’t bring their pure virginity as a gift to their bride on the wedding night. Boys gotta be boys, amiright?

To put it another way, even though adultery is a sin in Christianity, I doubt they’re going to object if the husband gets his sexual pleasure outside the marital bed, just as they’re fine treating adulterous womanizers Trump and Newt Gingrich as respected Christian leaders. That may be why, as EJ Dionne says, they’re outraged over gay marriage but not adultery, unless it’s by some liberal.

Being able to get ahead in this world without marrying is one of the things that distinguishes the era of modern feminism from the 1950s. Forcing women into marriage puts men back in the driver’s seat. Patriarchal blogger Lori Alexander, for example, recommends women go straight from their parents’ home to their husband’s. And the younger, the better. Even if that means marrying her rapist.

After all, if women can successfully stay single, the future of The Handmaid’s Tale will remain just a dystopian fantasy, instead of a reality.

I get into this bullshit more in Undead Sexist Cliches, available as a Amazon paperback, an ebook and from several other retailers.