When poet Maggie Smith’s Good Bones went viral, it helped to expose a faultline at the centre of her marriage. What happened when the true dynamic of her relationship was revealed?
  • SharkEatingBreakfastEnglish
    6·
    10 months ago

    I’m at least happy that y’all were there to help her out. Bless you for that!

    I guess I just assumed that someone you married and dedicated your entire life to would be the person who would move heaven and earth for you when they’re hurting. Especially after so much time!

    This really shakes me… and definitely makes me rethink marriage in the foreseeable future. At this point, everything I’ve seen and experienced just makes me think that women really do get the short end of the stick in marriages.

    Also:

    https://time.com/6265173/men-dying-after-spouse-dies/

    https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0282892

    Researchers also found that in the year after losing a spouse, men were 70% more likely to die than similarly aged men who did not lose a spouse, while women were 27% more likely to die compared to women who did not become widowed.

    “A lot of these older men grew up during a time when men had certain ideas about what was appropriate and not to be masculine,” says Carr. “Men tend to rely very heavily on their spouses, in heterosexual couples, for their social needs to be met.”