Throughout the world, marriages are considered as an agreement in between two different families. Marriages have the ability to enhance the power, well-being and prestige of two successful families (Von Rueden, Christopher and Adrian). Interracial marriages are very common in this modern era. It is a form of exogamy where marriages are allowed only outside of a social group, tribe, clan or community. It is also referred to as intercultural marriages or mixed marriages and they are considered by most of the people as having the potential to enrich the world-view of both the partners based in one’s ability and value of accommodating the cultural difference (Harris and Gonzalez). However, just like a coin has two sides, the institutions of marriages too have their own share of both advantages and disadvantages. The importance of knowing this grows paramount while considering the concept of interracial marriages or relationships. This paper seeks to elaborate on the negative aspects present in the interracial marriages for the couples and how it can affect them.
Interracial marriages have become common nowadays. Difficulties and challenges are seen in every marriage but it is note that these challenges and difficulties could be more intense in the interracial marriages (Lucas). However, for some couples, it works well but for some, it might get much disastrous. Most of the people are there who do not give any importance to the tribe, religion or skin color while choosing their life partners , but there are people who do considerate these factors while choosing their mates. People may wonder why an individual would choose get married with a person who belongs from different race, culture and background. The family and the society will for sure have a negative attitude when it comes to the question of bearing that their son or their daughter has fallen in love with someone who is from a different race (Galinsky, Hall and Cuddy). They tend to become incepting of the choice made by their children for different reasons. However, interracial marriages have indeed become very people around the world today mad and with the same, they have undergone a big transformation over the previous generations. In earlier days, the couples who used to undergo interracial marriages, used to face severe discrimination from their very community. They used to bear several stigma and lack of acceptance from their family and society in which they used to live in. Interracial marriages have multiplied with the passage of time (Chung and Yoo). It is really hard to believe that there were days when such marriages were banned by the law. Today, the laws are changed. Now people no longer feel it as something that is too unnatural, or something that is too unacceptable. However, the challenges of the interracial marriages are somewhat different from the other forms of marriages (Gabb and Singh). This is because the couple who get involved in such marriage has to be effectively get blended into their partner’s tradition, culture and has to accept their beliefs and values as well, which might be completely different from the values of beliefs of their very own.
One of the very common disadvantages of the interracial marriages, and which is also mentioned earlier is that interracial marriage tends to experience a high level of discrimination from the friends and families of the couples. Accepting one’s choice of life partner, belonging from different race would be very difficult for the family members to accept (Osuji). This is because they would feel that someone who is not aware of their tradition, culture and values would abandon them and would also forget their root with the passage of time. Also, there will often be the problems on which the practices and beliefs of the couple might dominate in their relationship. Furthermore, when it comes to their children, it becomes very hard. The couples who are interracially married would find difficulties in bringing up their children as they themselves were brought up in different ways by their parents and also, the backgrounds in which they grew up were also different. Such difference could cause notable disagreements among the couples. Children of the interracial parents may also face identity crisis (Afful, Wohlford and Stoelting). It is the sense o being different from both the parents. The manner in which children identify themselves usually depends on how their parents identify their child. Hence, there is no other way of avoiding such clashes other than compromising in the areas in which they disagree with each other and come together in the areas in which they agree on and this is important for the betterment of the child. They must discuss openly on how to raise their children as identity is a process that is lifelong, no matter what race they belong to (Hou and Myles). Hence, the interracially married parents must look into this matter and provide a secure role model with which their children can identify themselves. This could be seriously challenging task as because for, this one or the other partner has to compromise with his or her very own culture, beliefs, values and background. Along with this, the families of the interracially married couples, though might have accepted the marriage, could find it difficult to interact and relate with each other because of the differences in terms of languages, intonation, accent and the stress patterns they have in their different languages. This is also to note that the interracial couples might misinterpret the gesture from their partners and this have the potential to result in serious misunderstanding within them.
Furthermore, the interracially married couples could also undergo problems in knowing which culture to accept to after the marriage and to some, it could be something where they might end up not being able to identify their roots, specifically is their parents never introduce them to both their paternal and maternal relatives (Afful, Wohlford and Stoelting). With the same, it is also seen that the interracial couples attract unnecessary and unwanted attention from the other people. They tend to attract the abnormal attention from the people. Like, for example, there might be cases when most of the people would stare at them while they are at some public places, because of their differences in language or accent or anything that people find unnatural (Oleske). When they attend any social functions, they might have to confront to unusual stares from the public that could make them uncomfortable and they might then decide to leave the function there itself before the official closing time. Since, one have absolutely no control over how the strangers treat them. This is one of the very notable disadvantages of interracial marriage (Livingston, Gretchen and Anna Brown). This is also to be noted that there are people in the society who get into the interracial marriages due to their personal interests. Those interests could be negative as well. Some people get involved in such marriages as it promises them of migration, economic benefit or any political reasons. For couples like this, they might be inundated with several problems. Also, there could be times when one partner might feel it uncomfortable, disclosing the fact about their relationship in front of their friends and families.
Nevertheless, if one feels that he or she finds it difficult to get adjusted with an individual who belongs to different culture, tradition, or background, then interracial marriage or interracial dating is not the right thing for them to get indulged in (Leslie and Young). In addition to this, if a person know that the person he or she is dating, belong to such a race which is completely different from their very own and that their parents might not approve their relationship, then he must take the things slowly and try to bridge the gaps in between his partner and his family, before taking things ahead or getting serious in the relationship. This is because, undoubtedly, the impact of one’s family on his or her relationship has a lot more interrelated with the emotional independence of a couple.
The perception of people about the interracial marriages is indeed taking a positive spin in today’s era and this is way the interracial marriages are flourish in the current times. However, this is also to note that before taking a leap into interracial marriage or dating, a person is well aware of the challenges that are involved in such relationships. As seen from the above discussion, it is clear that the interracial marriages, though has become a very common phenomena in this modern society, but the acceptance of it is not still universal. With the same, it is well equipped with negative traits too. Hence, it will be wrong to say that interracial marriage is completely advantageous for the couples. Notwithstanding the fact that it is up to the couple how they handle the above mentioned challenges and how can they compromise and sacrifice in order to meet the halfway with all the differences.
Afful, Stephanie E., Corinne Wohlford, and Suzanne M. Stoelting. “Beyond “difference”: Examining the process and flexibility of racial identity in interracial marriages.” Journal of Social Issues 71.4 (2015): 659-674.
Chung, Grace H., and Joan P. Yoo. “Using the multicultural family support centers and adjustment among interethnic and interracial families in South Korea.” Family Relations 62.1 (2013): 241-253.
Gabb, Jacqui, and Reenee Singh. “Reflections on the challenges of understanding racial, cultural and sexual differences in couple relationship research.” Journal of Family Therapy 37.2 (2015): 210-227.
Galinsky, Adam D., Erika V. Hall, and Amy JC Cuddy. “Gendered races: Implications for interracial marriage, leadership selection, and athletic participation.” Psychological Science 24.4 (2013): 498-506.
Harris, Tina M., and Alberto González. “Constructing a cultural identity through family communication.” The Sage handbook of family communication (2015): 26-40.
Hou, Feng, and John Myles. “Interracial marriage and status-caste exchange in Canada and the United States.” Ethnic and racial studies 36.1 (2013): 75-96.
Leslie, Leigh A., and Jennifer L. Young. “Interracial couples in therapy: Common themes and issues.” Journal of Social Issues 71.4 (2015): 788-803.
Livingston, Gretchen, and Anna Brown. “Intermarriage in the US 50 years after Loving v. Virginia.” Pew Research Center Report (2017).
Lucas, Samuel R. “Beyond the existence proof: ontological conditions, epistemological implications, and in-depth interview research.” Quality & Quantity 48.1 (2014): 387-408.
Oleske Jr, James M. “The Evolution of Accomodation: Comparing the Unequal Treatment of Religious Objections to Interracial and Same-Sex Marriages.” Harv. CR-CLL Rev. 50 (2015): 99.
Osuji, Chinyere. “Confronting whitening in an era of black consciousness: racial ideology and black-white interracial marriages in Rio de Janeiro.” Ethnic and racial studies 36.10 (2013): 1490-1506.
Von Rueden, Christopher R., and Adrian V. Jaeggi. “Men’s status and reproductive success in 33 nonindustrial societies: Effects of subsistence, marriage system, and reproductive strategy.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences113.39 (2016): 10824-10829.
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