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Trophy Wife

Trophy wife

A trophy wife refers to a marriage pattern in Western society in which an older, and often wealthy, man will marry a young, attractive woman. This term is commonly applied to a rich and successful man who divorces his first wife, often with a generous divorce settlement, to marry a second, much younger woman. In some cases this pattern is repeated with subsequent wives. This marriage pattern is of interest to anthropologists because it can be seen as a form of serial monogamy and some claim that it is analogous to patterns of polygamy in other societies. polygamy The term is often used to imply that for the man, it a form of display intended to exhibit their wealth and success to others. However, this term is seen by some as misandrist, as it is a stereotype that implies wrongdoing solely on the part of the male, who takes advantage of an innocent, younger female while simultaneously wronging his older, previous wife. A misogynistic counterpart to the term "trophy wife" could be considered to be "gold digger", which has the implication of a young attractive woman, seducing an older, wealthy man for purpose of financial gain. The most famous example of a trophy wife is former Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith, who married oil magnate J. Howard Marshall. At the time of their marriage, he was 89 years old, she was 26.

Examples in fiction

- A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe
- In the Fairly Oddparents episode, "Truth or Cosmoquences", Cosmo pretends to be a millionaire and married to pop singer Britney Britney, for his high school reunion. Category:Marriage Display wife is the currently accepted definition of trophy wife. It is an unflattering reference to a man who displays his success by acquiring a lovely young wife, like a winners trophy. The original meaning is more ribald. It is a reference to a hunting trophy. A trophy wife then is a dear, or deer, with a "big rack" you "mount" in the den. The reference is less flattering to the women and the implication is she was acquired because of her effect on the failing sex drive of an older man.

Marriage

Marriage is a relationship between individuals which has formed the foundation of the family for most societies. Marriage can include legal, social, and religious elements. In western societies, marriage has traditionally been understood as social contract between a man (husband) and a woman (wife), while in other parts of the world polygamy has been the most common form of marriage, usually in the form of polygyny (a man taking several wives) but occasionally in the form of polyandry (a woman taking several husbands). In some western societies today, same-sex marriage is recognized yet remains a controversial issue.

Definitions

Precise definitions vary historically and between and within cultures: modern understanding emphasizes the legitimacy of sexual relations in marriage, yet the universal and unique attribute of marriage is the creation of affinal ties (in-laws). Traditionally, societies encourage one to marry "out" far enough to strengthen the ties, but "close" enough so that the in-laws are "one of us" or "our kind". One exception to this rule is found in the marriage of royalty, who strengthen their aid through concentration of wealth rather than through affinal ties. Even in this case, the individual was often encouraged to marry "within" close family limits. (Further discussion and reference: Marvin Harris, late, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University) Marriage remains important as the socially sanctioned bond in a sexual relationship. Marriage is usually conceived as a male-female relationship designed to produce children and successfully socialize them. Historically, most societies have sanctioned polygamy. The West is a major exception. Europe and the United States were monogamous cultures. This was in part a Germanic cultural tradition, a requirement of Christianity (after the sixth century CE), and a mandate of Roman Law. However, Roman Law supported prostitution, concubinage, sex outside of marriage, homosexual sex, and sexual access to slaves. The Christian West formally banned these practices. Globally, most existing societies do not sanction polygamy as a form of marriage. For example, China shifted from allowing polygamy to supporting only monogamy in the 1953 Marriage act after the Communist revolution. Most African and Islamic societies continue to allow polygamy (around 2.0 billion people). This includes India where polygamy is permitted for Muslim citizens. Probably, less than 3% of all Muslim marriages are polygamous. It is increasingly expensive in an Urban setting, but more useful in rural areas where children are a future source of agricultural labor. Most of the world's population live in societies where polygamy is less common and they are overwhelmingly monogamous. Since the latter decades of the 20th century many of society's assumptions about the nature and purpose of marriage and family have been challenged, in particular by gay rights advocacy groups, who disagree with the notion that marriage should be exclusively heterosexual. Some people also argue that marriage may be an unnecessary legal fiction. This is part of the general disruption of traditional families in the West. Since WWII the West has seen a dramatic increase in divorce (6% to over 40% of first marriages), cohabitation without marriage, a growing unmarried population, and children born outside of marriage (5% to over 33% of births), as well as an increase in adultery (8% to over 40%). A system of somewhat serial monogamy has de facto emerged. Still, legally sanctioned non-monogamous marriage arrangements are extremely rare. In modern times, the term marriage is generally reserved for a state sanctioned union (although some people disagree). The phrase legally married can be used to emphasize this point. In the United States there are two methods of receiving state sanction of a marriage: common law marriage and obtaining a marriage license. The vast majority of US states do recognize common law marriage. Many localities do support various types of domestic partnerships. Since the 12th century, marriage or holy matrimony has been a sacrament in the Catholic Church, as well as other Orthodoxies, where it is defined as a relationship between a man and a woman. The Protestant Reformation reformulated marriage as a life-long covenant. Marriage of some kind is found in most societies, and typically married people form a nuclear household, which is often subsequently extended biologically, through children. In the West the nuclear family emerged after 1100. Most non-Western societies have a broader definition of family that includes an extended family network. Alternatively, people may choose to be "childfree". Finally, they may be childless due to infertility, and possibly seek treatment or consider adoption. The term wedlock is a synonym for marriage, and is mainly used in the phrase "out of wedlock" to describe a child born of parents who were not married (see illegitimacy). In the West, marriage has evolved from a life-time covenant that can only be broken by fault or death to a contract that can be broken by either party at will. Other shifts in Western marriage since WWI include: (a) Unlike the 19th century women not men get child custody over 80% of the time, (b) both spouses have a formal duty of spousal support (no longer just the husband), (c) Out-of-Wedlock children have the same rights of support as legitimate children, (d) in most states rape can legally occur within marriage and be punished, (e) husbands may no longer physically discipline or abuse their wife, and (f) in some jurisdictions, property acquired since marriage is not owned by the title-holder. This property is considered marital and to be divided among the spouses by community property law or equitable distribution via the courts. There is a growing debate about the form(s) that marriage should take. Two of the most hotly-debated variants are discussed below: same-sex marriage - legal in some countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada (and the US state of Massachusetts) by 2005 - and, polygamy.

Types of marriages

The type and functions of marriage vary from culture to culture.

Western world

In the United States and Europe, in the 21st century, legally sanctioned marriages are monogamous (although some pockets of society still sanction polygamy socially, if not legally) and divorce is relatively simple and socially sanctioned. In the West, the prevailing view toward marriage today is that it is based on a legal covenant recognising emotional attachment between the partners and entered into voluntarily.

Eastern world

Some societies permit polygamy, in which a man could have multiple wives; even in such societies however, most men have only one. In such societies, having multiple wives is generally considered a sign of wealth and power. The status of multiple wives has varied from one society to another. In the Muslim world, marriage is sanctioned between a man and a woman, but there are verses in chapter 4 of the Qur'an which state that in certain conditions a man is allowed up to four wives. In Muslim societies, the different wives are considered equal and must be treated as such. In Indonesia, the largest Muslim majority state, marriage is allowed between a man and a woman who profess the same faith, while atheists are not allowed to marry. In Imperial China, formal marriage was sanctioned only between a man and a woman, although among the upper classes, the primary wife was an arranged marriage with an elaborate formal ceremony while concubines could be taken on later with minimal ceremony. Only the children from the official union were considered legitimate. To better control population growth after the rise of Communism, only strictly monogamous marital relationships are permitted, although divorce is a relatively simple process.

Polygamy, monogamy, and polyandry

Polyandry (a woman having multiple husbands) occurs very rarely in a few isolated tribal societies with limited resources. These societies include some bands of the Canadian Inuit, although the practice has declined sharply in the 20th century due to the change from tribal religion to the Moravian religion. Societies which permit group marriage are extremely rare, but have existed in utopian societies such as the Oneida Community. However, in 21st century Western cultures, while bigamy is illegal and sexual relations outside marriage are generally frowned-upon, divorce and remarriage have officially been relatively easy to undertake. This has led to a practice called serial monogamy. "Serial monogamy" usually refers to what occurs when a husband, usually of average to high socioeconomic status, divorces an older wife and takes on a younger wife. The younger wife is popularly referred to as the "trophy wife" by many who frown upon the practice. The modern practice of serial monogamy is strikingly similar to the marital practices observed in polygamous societies. Serial monogamy within the LGBT community refers to the practice of having one long-term relationship and then moving on to another. This practice is one of a few options for bisexuals, and is practiced by many gays and lesbians as well. (It can be argued that this is common with heterosexuals who aren't wanting or ready to "settle down" or who question the tradition heterosexual cultural norms of marriage. Whether heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual, these individuals would be offended at the view that their relationships weren't meaningful.)

Traditional cultures

Some traditional cultures still practice marriage by abduction, a form of forced marriage in which a woman who is kidnapped and raped by a man is regarded as his wife. This practice is limited to a few traditional cultures in a small number of countries, and is generally regarded as abhorrent by other cultures.

Marriage today in Belgium, The Netherlands, Canada, Spain

:Main article: Same-sex marriage These countries have the particular possibility that opposite sex as well as same sex couples may engage in marriage. Although same-sex unions have been recorded in the history of a number of cultures, marriages between same-sex partners were rare or nonexistent in other cultures. Same-sex marriage remains infrequent worldwide, especially as it is not offered in most countries. However, some countries recognize same-sex marriage, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, and Spain; in the United States same-sex marriage is legal in the state of Massachusetts. "Civil unions" are recognized in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Germany, France, Portugal, New Zealand and the U.S. states of Vermont and Connecticut, and will be recognized in the United Kingdom from December 2005; a growing number of American states and various localities, such as Maine, recognize domestic partnerships, which offer parity of spousal rights, to different degrees, with marriage.

Unique Practices

Some parts of India follow a custom in which the groom is required to marry with an auspicious plant called Tulsi before a second marriage to overcome inauspicious predictions about the health of the husband. However, the relationship is not consummated and does not affect their ability to remarry later. One should note that this is not a norm found across the entire Indian sub-continent. In the state of Kerala, India, the Nambudiri Brahmin caste traditionally practices henogamy, in which only the eldest son in each family is permitted to marry. In Mormonism, a couple may seal their marriage "for time and for all eternity" through a "sealing" ceremony conducted within the LDS temple. The couple is then believed to be bound to each other in marriage throughout eternity if they live according to their covenants made in the ceremony. Mormonism also allows living persons to act as proxies in the sealing ceremony to "seal" a marriage between ancestors who have been dead for at least one year and who were married during their lifetime. According to LDS theology, it is then up to the deceased individuals to accept or reject this sealing in the spirit world before their eventual resurrection. A living person can also be sealed to his or her deceased spouse, with another person (of the same sex as the deceased) acting as proxy for that deceased individual. Other unusual variations include marriage between a living human and a ghost (Taiwan), a living human and a recently-deceased human with whom they were emotionally involved (France), and between a human being and God (Catholic and Orthodox monasticism). Again, these lack the social meaning of ordinary marriage and belong rather to the realm of religion or (in the case of weddings of dogs to other dogs, Kermit the Frog to Miss Piggy, and the like) pure spectacle.

Recognition

Couples usually seek social sanction for their marriages, and many societies require official approval of a religious or civil body. Sociologists thus distinguish between a marriage ceremony conducted under the auspices of a religion and a state-sanctioned civil marriage. In many jurisdictions the civil marriage ceremony may take place during the religious marriage ceremony, although they are two distinct entities. In most American states the marriage may be officiated by a priest, minister, or religious authority, and in such a case the religious authority acts simultaneously as a religious authority and an agent of the state. In some countries such as France, Germany and Russia, it is necessary to be married by the state before having a religious ceremony. Some states allow civil marriages which are not allowed by many religions, such as same-sex marriages or civil unions, and marriage may also be created by the operation of the law alone as in common-law marriage, which is a judicial recognition that two people living as domestic partners are entitled to the effects of marriage. Conversely, there are examples of people who have a religious ceremony which is not recognized civilly. Examples include widows who stand to lose a pension if they remarry and so undergo a marriage in the eyes of God, homosexual couples, some sects of Mormonism which recognize polygamy, retired couples that would lose pension benefits if legally married, Muslim men who wish to engage in polygamy that is condoned in some situations under Islam and immigrants who do not wish to alert to the immigration authorities that they are married either to a spouse they are leaving behind or because the complexity of immigration laws may make it difficult for spouses to visit on a tourist visa. In Europe it has traditionally been the churches' office to make marriages official by registering them. Hence, it was a significant step towards a clear separation of church and state and also an intended and effective weakening of the Christian churches' role in Germany, when Chancellor Otto von Bismarck introduced the Zivilehe (civil marriage) in 1875. This law made the declaration of the marriage before an official clerk of the civil administration (both spouses affirming their will to marry) the procedure to make a marriage legally valid and effective, and reduced the clerical marriage to a mere private ceremony.

Rights and obligations

Typically, marriage is the institution through which people join together their lives in emotional and economic ways through forming a household. It often confers rights and obligations with respect to raising children, holding property, sexual behavior, kinship ties, tribal membership, relationship to society, inheritance, emotional intimacy, and love. Marriage sometimes: establishes the legal father of a woman's child; establishes the legal mother of a man's child; gives the husband or his family control over the wife's sexual services, labor, and/or property; gives the wife or her family control over the husband's sexual services, labor, and/or property; establishes a joint fund of property for the benefit of children; establishes a relationship between the families of the husband and wife. No society does all of these; no one of these is universal (see Edmund Leach's article in "Marriage, Family, and Residence," edited by Paul Bohannan and John Middleton). Marriage has traditionally been a prerequisite for starting a family, which usually serves as the building block of a community and society. Thus, marriage not only serves the interests of the two individuals, but also the interests of their children and the society of which they are a part. In most of the world's major religions, marriage is traditionally a prerequisite for sexual intercourse: unmarried people are not supposed to have sex, which is then called fornication and is socially discouraged or even criminalized. In practice, most of these societies have tacitly accepted sex between unmarried people if they marry as soon as pregnancy occurs (see shotgun wedding). Sex with a married person other than one's spouse, called adultery, is even less acceptable and has also often been criminalized, especially in the case of a person who is a representative of the government (e.g. president, prime minister, political representative, public-school teacher, military officer).

Marriage restrictions

Societies have always placed restrictions on marriage to relatives, though the degree of prohibited relationship varies widely. In almost all societies marriage between brothers and sisters is forbidden, with Ancient Egyptian, Hawaiian, and Inca royalty being the rare exception. In many societies marriage between some first cousins is preferred, while at the other extreme, the medieval Catholic church prohibited marriage between distant cousins. The present day Catholic Church still maintains a standard of required distance (in both consanguinity and affinity) for marriage. Marriage gives the couple various rights allotted only to married individuals in many societies. In Indian Hindu community, especially in the Brahmin caste, marrying person of the same Gothra is prohibited, since persons belonging to the same Gothra are said to have identical patrilineal descension. In ancient India when Gurukul was in existence, the shishyas (the pupils) were advised against marrying any of Guru's children as shishyas were considered Guru's children and it would be considered marriage among siblings (though there were exceptions like Arjuna's son Abhimanyu marrying Uttra, the dance student of Arjuna in Mahabharatha). Many societies have also adopted other restrictions on whom one can marry, such as prohibitions on marrying persons with the same surname, or persons with the same sacred animal. Anthropologists refer to these sort of restrictions as exogamy. One exception to this pattern is in ancient Egypt, where marriage between brothers and sisters was permitted in the royal family; this privilege was denied commoners and may have served to concentrate wealth and power in one family (See also incest). The consequence of the incest-taboo is exogamy, the requirement to marry someone from another group. Anthropologists have thus pointed out that the incest taboo may serve to promote social solidarity. The "one man one woman" model for the Christian marriage was advocated by Saint Augustine (354-439 AD) with his published letter The Good of Marriage. To discourage polygamy, he wrote it "was lawful among the ancient fathers: whether it be lawful now also, I would not hastily pronounce. For there is not now necessity of begetting children, as there then was, when, even when wives bear children, it was allowed, in order to a more numerous posterity, to marry other wives in addition, which now is certainly not lawful." (chapter 15, paragraph 17) Sermons from St. Augustine's letters were popular and influential. In 534 AD Roman Emperor Justinian criminalized all but monogamous man/woman sex within the confines of marriage. The Justinian Code was the basis of European law for 1,000 years. Societies have also at times required marriage from within a certain group. Anthropologists refer to these restrictions as endogamy. An example of such restrictions would be a requirement to marry someone from the same tribe. Racist laws adopted by some societies in the past, such as Nazi-era Germany, apartheid-era South Africa and most of the southern United States and Utah prior to 1967, which prohibited marriage between persons of different races (miscegenation) could also be considered examples of endogamy. As tolerance of homosexuality has become more widespread in Western cultures, some governments have recognized a right to marriage by people of the same sex. This has in turn created a general backlash, most notably in Great Britain, where the Church of England has officially banned gay marriage, and in the United States, where several states have specifically outlawed gay marriage, often by popular referenda. At the United States federal level, the Defense of Marriage Act has created a federal definition of marriage as between a man and a woman as well as allowing one state not to recognize a same sex marriage recognized by another state. Arguments have been made that the DOMA conflicts with the United States Constitution, and could conceivably be overturned on this basis. To ensure this does not happen, some, including President George W. Bush, support amending the Federal Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages. Some countries and one U.S. state currently recognize same-sex marriage, and legal challenges to marriage restrictions may soon expand the recognition of same-sex marriages to Washington, New York, and other states. Nevertheless, while [http://www.pollingreport.com/civil.htm opinion polls] indicate support by the general majority of Europe and North America for legal recognition of homosexual partnerships for the purpose of granting rights and immunities equivalent to those of heterosexual marriages, [http://www.pollingreport.com/civil.htm the same polls] indicate wide majorities, as much as two-thirds, disapproving of a change to the legal definition of marriage to include homosexual unions.

Termination

Many societies provide for the termination of marriage through divorce. Marriages can also be annulled or cancelled, which is a legal proceeding that establishes that a marriage was invalid from its beginning.

Weddings

The ceremony in which a marriage is enacted and announced to the community is called a wedding. A wedding in which a couple marry in the "eyes of the law" is called a civil marriage. Religions also facilitate weddings, in the "eyes of God." In many European and some Latin American countries, where someone chooses a religious ceremony, they must also hold that ceremony separate from the civil ceremony. Certain countries, like Belgium and the Netherlands even legally demand that the civil marriage has to take place before any religious marriage. In some countries, notably the United States, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Spain both ceremonies can be held together; the officiant at the religious and community ceremony also serves as an agent of the state to enact the civil marriage. That does not mean that the state is "recognizing" religious marriages; the "civil" ceremony just takes place at the same time as the religious ceremony. Often this involves simply signing a register during the religious ceremony. If that civil element of the full ceremony is left out for any reason, in the eyes of the law no marriage took place, irrespective of the holding of the religious ceremony. Whilst some countries, such as Australia, permit marriages to be held in private and at any location, others, including England, require that the civil ceremony be conducted in a place specially sanctioned by law (ie. a church or registry office), and be open to the public. An exception can be made in the case of marriage by special emergency licence, which is normally granted only when one of the parties is terminally ill. Rules about where and when persons can marry vary from place to place.Some regulations require that one of the parties reside in the locality of the registry office. Because of Australia's very lax rules on marriage, many famous people, including Michael Jackson and Elton John, have opted to marry in Australia, so as to have a private ceremony. The way in which a marriage is enacted has changed over time, as has the institution of marriage itself. In Europe during the Middle Ages, marriage was enacted by the couple promising verbally to each other that they would be married to each other; the presence of a priest or other witnesses was not required if circumstances prevented it. This promise was known as the "verbum". As part of the Reformation, the role of recording marriages and setting the rules for marriage passed to the state. By the 1600s many of the Protestant European countries had heavy state involvement in marriage.

Marriage and religion

:Main article: Religious aspects of marriage Many religions have extensive teachings regarding marriage. Most Christian churches give some form of blessing to a marriage; the wedding ceremony typically includes some sort of pledge by the community to support the couple's relationship. In the Roman Catholic Church "Holy Matrimony" is considered to be one of the seven sacraments, in this case one that the spouses bestow upon each other in front of a priest and members of the community as witnesses during a "Nuptial Mass". In the Eastern Orthodox church, it is one of the Mysteries, and is seen as an ordination and a martyrdom. In marriage, Christians see a picture of the relationship between Jesus and the Church. In Judaism, marriage is viewed as a coming together of two families, therefore prolonging the religion and cultural heritage of the Jewish people. Islam also recommends marriage highly; among other things, it helps in the pursuit of spiritual perfection. The Bahá'í Faith sees marriage as a foundation of the structure of society, and considers it both a physical and spiritual bond that endures into the afterlife. Hinduism sees marriage as a sacred duty that entails both religious and social obligations. By contrast, Buddhism does not encourage or discourage marriage, although it does teach how one might live a happily married life. It's also worth noting that different religions have different beliefs as regards the breakup of marriage. For example, the Roman Catholic Church does not permit divorce, because in its eyes, a marriage is forged by God. The Church states that what God joins together, humans cannot sunder. As a result, people who get a civil divorce are still considered married in the eyes of the Catholic Church, which does not allow them to remarry, even if they are allowed a civil marriage. In some special cases, however, Catholics can be permitted an annulment. With a nullity, religions and the state often apply different rules, meaning that a couple, for example, could receive a divorce from the state and not have their marriage annulled by the Catholic Church because the state disagrees with the church over whether an annulment could be granted in a particular case. This produces the phenomenon of Catholics getting Church annulments simultaneously with state divorces, allowing the ex-partners to marry other people in the eyes of both the Church and the State. Islam does allow divorce; however, there is a verse stated in the Qur'an describing divorce as the least desirable act allowed between people. The general rule is for a man to allow his wife to stay until the end of her menstrual period or for 3 months if she so wishes after the divorce. During this period they would be divorced in that they would simply be living under the same roof but not functioning as man and wife. The Qur'an scholars suggest that the main point is to prevent any decisions by the woman from being affected by hormonal fluctuations as well as to allow any heated arguments or differences to be resolved in a civil manner before the marriage is completely terminated. However, there is no obligation on the woman to stay, if she so wishes she may leave. The man is also obligated to give his wife a gift or monetary sum equivalent to at least half her mahr (gift or monetary sum which is given to the wife at the commencement of the marriage). Specific conditions as to how a divorce is conducted also apply if a woman is pregnant, or has given birth just prior to the divorce. refer Qur'an 2:228-232, 236, 237, 241 and 65:1-7. See also 4:35.

Marriage and economics

The economics of marriage have changed over time. Historically, in many cultures the family of the bride had to provide a dowry to pay a man for marrying their daughter. In other cultures, the family of the groom had to pay a bride price to the bride's family for the right to marry the daughter. In some cultures, dowries and bride prices are still demanded today. In both cases, the financial transaction takes place between the groom (or his family) and the bride's family; the bride has no part in the transaction and often no choice in whether or not to participate in the marriage. In many modern legal systems, two people who marry have the choice between keeping their property separate or combining their property. In the latter case, called community property, when the marriage ends by divorce each owns half; if one partner dies the surviving partner owns half and for the other half inheritance rules apply. In some legal systems, the partners in a marriage are "jointly liable" for the debts of the marriage. This has a basis in a traditional legal notion called the "Doctrine of Necessaties" whereby a husband was responsible to provide necessary things for his wife. Where this is the case, one partner may be sued to collect a debt for which they did not expressly contract. Critics of this practice note that debt collection agencies can abuse this claiming an unreasonably wide range of debts to be expenses of the marriage. The cost of defense and the burden of proof is then placed on the non-contracting party to prove that the expense is not a debt of the family. The respective maintenance obligations, during and eventually after a marriage, are regulated in most jurisdictions; see alimony. It is possible to analyze the institution of marriage using economic theory; see [http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Academic/Price_Theory/PThy_Chapter_21/PThy_Chap_21.html David Friedman, Price Theory: Chapter 21: The Economics of Love and Marriage].

Criticisms of marriage

Under the principle of church-state separation, libertarians criticize the government regulation of and the state's involvement in marriage, because many now consider marriage a religious institution. The libertarian view is that if government must recognize marriage at all, it should be treated as a contract like any other between two freely consenting parties, which would essentially reduce family law to a subset of contract law. The religious aspects should remain the province of one's church and that church's ecclesiastical courts (if it has them). Relatively new legal developments like palimony have already tilted certain governments slightly in this direction. Other commentators have argued that marriage has a significant dark side. They sometimes condemn individual local practices and sometimes even the entire institution of marriage. A good many of these are feminist critiques, which claim that in many cultures marriage is particularly disadvantageous to women. [http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/divorce.htm] With the divorce rate half that of the marriage rate, [http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p60-225.pdf] 15% of men are awarded custody, unchanged since 1994 (cf. p. 1), and [http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/004012.html] annual support payments increasing 18% to $40 billion paid by 7.8 million separated parents, 6.6 million are fathers with [http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title04/0458.htm] cash incentives of up to $4.1 billion available to states that create support and arrearage orders, and then collect (cf. 6B, 6C, & 6D), it may help to explain the conclusion of a [http://marriage.rutgers.edu/Publications/SOOU/SOOU2004.pdf] recent marriage report by Rutgers University. "Continuing decline of the marriage rate accompanied by an increase in the number of cohabiting couples; a small increase in the percentage of children living in fragile families and born out of wedlock; and a sharp increase among teenage boys in their acceptance of unwed childbearing and a slight decrease in agreement among teenagers, especially girls, that "living together before getting married is a good idea." says 2004 Social Health of Marriage in America. Marriage strike behavior although not explicit. Further, during a litigated divorce allegations of domestic violence, child custody, paternity, alimony, child support, fathers' rights create additional concerns, especially with divorce attorneys rates up to $300.00 per hour. [http://www.eleventhdistrictcourt.state.nm.us/stats/mckinley/dvcumulative.pdf] 85% of orders of protections are awarded to females, 7% of petitions denied. Since the enactment of the Violence Against Women Act of 1995, [http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/vawo/about.htm] more than $1 billion spent to police and prosecutors. Since 1995, when a wife feels fearful, it is domestic violence. Divorce attorneys practice leveraging this assault charge into an order of protection to get a spouse, usually the man, out of the home, physically separating him from children and his property. In many areas of the world, when a woman was in her early teens her father arranged a marriage for her in return for a bride price, sometimes to a man twice her age who was a stranger to her. Her older husband then became her guardian and she could be cut off almost completely from her family. The woman had little or no say in the marriage negotiations, which might even have occurred without her knowledge. Some traditions allowed a woman who failed to bear a son to be given back to her father. This reflected the importance of bearing children and extending the family to succeeding generations. Often both parties are expected to be virgins before their marriage, but in many cultures women were more strictly held to this standard. One old tradition in Europe, which survived into the twentieth century in rural Greece, was for this to be proven by hanging the bloody bed sheet from the wedding night from the side of the house. Similarly, sexual fidelity is very often expected in marriage, but sometimes the expectations and penalties for women have been harsher than those for men. In some traditions marriage could be a traumatic, unpleasant turn of events for a girl. "The Lot of Women" written in Athens in the mid 5th century BC laments this situation: :Young women, in my opinion, have the sweetest existence known to mortals in their father's homes, for their innocence always keeps children safe and happy. But when we reach puberty and can understand, we are thrust out and sold away from our ancestral gods and from our parents. Some go to strange men's homes, others to foreigner's, some to joyless houses, some to hostile. And all this once the first night has yoked us to our husband we are forced to praise and say that all is well. On the other hand, marriage has often served to assure the woman of her husband's continued support and enabled her to focus more attention on the raising of her children. This security has typically been greater when and where divorce has been more difficult to obtain. Some older wedding traditions still survive in some form in today's ceremonies. Women may still be symbolically "given away" by their fathers. Some brides still vow to "love and obey" their husbands and some bridegrooms vow to "care for" their wives. A groom might remove his bride's garter, a symbol of her virginity, as a public representation of his claim on her sexuality. Brides toss their bouquets towards a group of single women, who compete to catch the bouquet; the woman who catches the bouquet is believed to have the good fortune to be the next woman to get married. One very common tradition is that of the groom carrying the bride over the threshold of their house. Investigating the origin of this tradition around 100 AD, Plutarch postulated three different possibilities. The first was that the act of picking up the bride was a symbolic re-enactment of the Rape of the Sabines. Another was that it symbolized the bride's reluctance to surrender her virginity, which she did only under duress. And the last suggested marital faithfulness - having been carried into the house by her husband she would only leave it the same way. This of course was in the context of a patriarchal culture in which it was said that a woman should only leave her house when she was so old that people would not ask whose wife she was, but whose mother. It has also been said to originate from a Roman belief that it was bad luck for a bride to stumble while entering her new home. These traditions, though often attacked by critics and scholars, nevertheless remain a treasured part of many ceremonies, cherished by both bride and groom.

Pragmatic marriage

A Pragmatic (or 'Arranged') marriage that is facilitated by formal procedures of family or group politics. A responsible authority sets up or encourages the marriage. The authority could be parents, family, a religious figure or a consensus. The former two often start the process with informal pressure, social pressure, whilst the latter two often start the process with a formal system or statement. In both cases, the authority has a compelling veto over the marriage, and this system is socially supported by the rest of community so that to deny it is extreme and drastic. Once declared, an engagement is implicit, which follows through with a formal marriage ceremony. Those who uphold pragmatic marriage frequently state that it is traditional, that it upholds social morals, that it is good for the families involved.

Differences of opinion

Those who believe in romantic marriage will often criticize pragmatic marriage, considering it is oppressive, inhuman, or immoral. Defenders of pragmatic marriage disagree, often pointing to cultures where the success rate of pragmatic marriages is seen to be high, and holding that nearly all couples learn to love and care for each other very deeply. Those who believe in pragmatic marriage also have some traditional criticisms of romantic marriage, saying that it is short-term, overly based on sexual lust or immoral. Defenders of romantic marriage would hold that it is preferable to achieve an emotional bond before entering into a lifelong commitment. Cultures that aspire to create relationships after couples marry are those with institutionalized practices of pragmatic marriage. Cultures that come to think that marriages should only be tried once a short-term compatibility already exists adopt romantic marriages. It is debatable whether either method is more correct or that either set of ideas about marriage is more right - the underlying assumptions are different. Much criticism of the "other" form of marriage to what one person accepts is based on misunderstanding assumptions about marriage made from different cultural starting-points and what different groups of people consider marriage to be.

External links

- [http://Ouchmytoe.rediffblogs.com Funny Marriage Advice] - Ouchmytoe - A Blog on Marriage & the problems it brings
- [http://dontmarry.com/ Don't Marry] - A dissenting opinion on the social convention of marriage in Western society.
- [http://www.unmarried.org The Alternatives to Marriage Project ] Advocating for equality and fairness for unmarried people
- [http://nikah.com/marriage/default.asp Muslim Marriage Information]
- [http://www.acfc.org/ The American Coalition for Fathers and Children (ACFC)]
- [http://www.zionwedding.com Jewish Matrimony and Personals] - Jewish Matrimony and Personals
- [http://www.islamimatrimonials.com/muslim_marriage_rights.htm Muslim Matrimonial] - Rights of Spouses in Islam
- [http://www.freedomtomarry.org/ The Freedom to Marry Coalition]
- [http://weddings.iloveindia.com/features/types-of-hindu-marriages.html Types of Hindu Marriages]
- [http://marriage.rutgers.edu/publicat.htm The National Marriage Project]
- [http://nikahsearch.com/marriage/marriage.htm Marriage in Islam] - Hadith, Marriage Conditions and Etiquettes of Muslim Marriage
- [http://www.fatherhood.hhs.gov/charting02/Family.htm#tff1.1 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Survey]
- [http://www.nikah.com Muslim Matrimonial Service]
- [http://www.islamfrominside.com/Pages/Articles/Marriage%20in%20Islam.html Marriage (Nikah) in Islam]
- [http://www.muslimmatrimonial.com Muslim marriage and Advice]
- [http://www.growthtrac.com Christian Marriage Resources at Growthtrac]
- [http://nikahsearch.com/marriage/conditions.htm Conditions of Muslim Marriage]
- [http://family-marriage-counseling.com The Family & Marriage Counseling Directory]
- [http://www.fisheaters.com/holymatrimony.html The Catholic Sacrament of Holy Matrimony] includes the rite used before Vatican II and by traditional Catholics today
- [http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?AID=313716 Laws and Customs of the Jewish Wedding] chabad.org
- [http://www.originalintent.org/edu/marriage.php Treatise on Common Law Marriage] Category:Divorce Category:Family
- Category:Wedding ko:혼인 ja:結婚

Serial monogamy

Serial monogamy is a form of monogamy in which participants have only one sexual partner at any one time, but have more than one sexual partner in their lifetime. Partners can be married or unmarried, but there are never more than one at a time. Within Western culture, this form of monogamy is more prevalent than 'true' monogamy, which is having only one partner in an entire life. The term "serial monogamy" is more often descriptive than prescriptive: relatively few people expect or want their relationships to end. It has a significant pejorative connotation, as it is rarely, if ever, used by proponents of this type of lifestyle. Technically, any animals (including humans) who do not mate with one partner for life can be considered "serially monogamous", this includes those who mate with another only upon the death of a spouse. In more common usage, serial monogamy tends to refer to a long string of generally monogamous relationships which can often include more than one marriage. Serial monogamy could also be seen as serial, but not strictly monogamous. It is a form of polygamy wherein the multiple spouses are had "in series" (one after the other) rather than "in parallel" (at the same time).

Misandry

Misandry, sometimes called misandrosy, is the hatred of men, for being men. While usually ascribed to women, it is also possible for males themselves to be misandrist. Unlike misogyny (a pathological antipathy towards women), misandry has been little discussed or investigated. This term is sometimes used interchangeably with misanthropy but that is not correct usage, as misanthropy refers to hatred of both male and female humans. Androphobia is the fear of men, which may lead to the hatred of men, but it is not an exact synonym of misandry. Within those who research and study misandry, there are various schools of thought. Some masculists maintain that misandry has been rampant for thirty years, maintaining feminist advocacy has become widespread popular culture, and thus misandry has become a social pathology. On the other hand, a marginal number of feminists find misogyny to be a social disease but are skeptical of the current condition of misandry. More popular is the view (held by a large number of both feminists and masculists) that the "war of the sexes" arising from traditional gender roles is the considerably powerful source of both misogyny and misandry.

Forms of misandry

There are many different forms of misandry. In its most overt expression, a misandrist will openly hate all men simply because they are overly male. Other forms of misandry may be more subtle. Some misandrists may simply hold all men under suspicion, or may hate men who do not fall into one or more acceptable categories. Entire cultures may be said to be misandric if they treat men in ways that can be seen as hateful.

Misandry in popular culture

Some hold that certain aspects of popular culture have depictions or display attitudes which could be said to show misandry, such as:
- depictions of men as being sex-crazed and overbearing
- attitudes where women are superior to men
- depictions in sitcoms and advertising of bumbling male ineptitude (especially fathers)
- descriptions where the body count as described by some as "there were X fatalities, including Y women and children" is argued to reduce the value of the male lives lost The controversial French movie Baise Moi (2000) could be argued to be such a film which has attitudes of misandry; two women go on a sexual and murderous rampage of various men they encounter. A similar film by Russ Meyer entitled Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! was released in 1965. 'Are Men Necessary? When Sexes Collide (Putnam, 2005)' Maureen Dowd claims that men are afraid of a strong female identity and rallies against men who are 'becoming extinct' and comparing them to 'ornamentation'.

Misandry in Mythology

The Amazons of Ancient Greek Mythology, were a nation of women warriors, who held men in open contempt and only had an occasional need for them as drones for reproduction.

Links

- [http://www.lbduk.org/spreading%20misandry.htm The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture] book review
- [http://www.backlash.com/content/gender/1996/4-apr96/wilson04.html Androphobia: The Only Respectable Bigotry] by Robert Anton Wilson

Bibliography

- Spreading Misandry: The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture; Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, 2001; ISBN 0-7735-2272-7 Category:Prejudices Category:Gender Category:Sexism

Stereotype

:For the term used in computing, see stereotype (computing). Stereotypes are considered to be a group concept, held by one social group about another. They are often used in a negative or prejudicial sense and are frequently used to justify certain discriminatory behaviours. This allows powerful social groups to legitimize and protect their dominant position. Often a stereotype is a negative caricature or inversion of some positive characteristic possessed by members of a group, exaggerated to the point where it becomes repulsive or ridiculous. Stereotype production is based on :
- Simplification
- Exaggeration or distortion
- Generalization
- Presentation of cultural attributes as being 'natural'. Stereotypes are seen by many as undesirable beliefs which can be altered through education and/or familiarization. However, stereotypes need not be confined to negative characterizations about individuals or groups, and can thus have positive characterizations.
There are also genuinely positive stereotypes about groups. Some groups have, as a deliberate political strategy, tried to evolve new genuine positive stereotypes for themselves.

Stereotypes of groups by other groups

Common stereotypes include a variety of allegations about groups based around: race, ethnicity, sexuality, nationality, and religious belief, and also profession, social status and wealth (see social stereotype). (See also: racial stereotype, ethnic stereotype, and racial profiling).

Stereotypes within groups

A variety of stereotypes usually exist within major social groups, and relate to the variety of identified sub-groups that exist within their own group. For instance, western urban lesbian sub-culture has strong sub-group stereotypes about: butch and femme lesbians; bisexuals; granola dykes; and many other sub-groups within the lesbian subculture.

Stereotypes in culture

Stereotypes are common in the world of drama, where the term is often used as a form of dramatic shorthand for "stock character". In literature and art, stereotypes are clichéd or predictable characters or situations. For example, the stereotypical devil is a red, impish character with horns and a pitchfork (actually a trident), whilst the stereotypical salesman is a slickly-dressed, fast-talking individual who cannot usually be trusted. The Italian Commedia Dell'arte was known for its stock characters and stock situations, which could be considered drama stereotypes. Throughout history, storytellers have drawn from stereotypical characters and situations, in order to quickly connect the audience with new tales. Sometimes such stereotypes can be very complex and sophisticated, such as Shakespeare's Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. The instantly recognisable nature of stereotypes mean that they are very useful in producing effective advertising and situation comedy. Media stereotypes change and evolve over time - for instance, we now instantly recognise only a few of the stereotyped characters shown to us in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, and the stereotypical 1970s effete gay man depicted by John Inman in Are You Being Served? is rarely seen in the media today and may even completely baffle young viewers in future decades.

Origins of the word

The word stereotype was invented by Firmin Didot in the world of printing; it was originally a duplicate impression of an original typographical element, used for printing instead of the original. Over time, this became a metaphor for any set of ideas repeated identically, en masse, with minor changes. In fact, cliché and stereotype were both originally printers' words, and in their literal printers' meanings were synonymous. Specifically, cliché was an onomatopoetic word for the sound that was made during the stereotyping process when the matrix hit molten metal.

External links

- [http://samvak.tripod.com/stereotype.html The psychological and social role of stereotypes]
- [http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/17172/111173 Suite 101: Shark Tale stereotypes troubling: CNYU Professor] Category:Lists of fictional characters Category:Social philosophy Category:Sociology
- ja:固定観念

Gold digger

- Gold Digger is the name of a 2005 single by Kanye West.
- Gold Digger is also the name of a comic book by Fred Perry.
- It is also a slang term for women who date wealthier(often older) men as a pretense for spending their money. See Age disparity in sexual relationships for more information.

Anna Nicole Smith

Anna Nicole Smith (born Vickie Lynn Hogan on November 28, 1967 in Mexia, Texas) is a nude model and actress who gained popularity when appearing nude as Playboy’s centerfold in June 1992 and later selected Playboy’s playmate of the year for 1993. She later became a household name after marrying a Texas billionaire more than 60 years her senior, and for a number of bizarre public antics, such as those depicted on her own reality show. In her early 20s, Smith worked at a variety of low-paying jobs while supporting her son Daniel. While working as an exotic dancer, she met oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall, who frequently patronized her place of work. With Marshall’s money, Smith had cosmetic surgery to increase her breast size. She managed to land on the cover of the March 1992 issue of Playboy magazine as “Vickie Smith” wearing a low-cut evening gown. This appearance secured her a contract to replace supermodel Claudia Schiffer in the Guess? jeans ad campaign. Smith then posed nude for Playboy as the June 1992 centerfold. Tall, blonde, and full-figured, Smith won comparisons to the voluptuous Marilyn Monroe and was chosen to be the 1993 Playmate of the Year. She finally settled on the name “Anna Nicole Smith” by the time of her PMOY pictorial. Marilyn Monroe Smith and the billionaire Marshall finally married on June 27, 1994. She was 26 at the time, and Marshall was 89. By most accounts, Anna Nicole had other relationships and was generally indifferent to Marshall, with whom she never lived. Smith’s alleged romantic interests included body builder Clay Spires, actor Rikki Lee Travolta, real estate mogul Jonathan McManus, Maria Antonia Cerrato, and Sandi Powledge. Within weeks after J. Howard's death on August 4, 1995, Smith squared off against his son, E. Pierce Marshall, for half of her late husband's $1.6 billion estate. Although J. Howard was, according to his employees, crazy about her, he did not include her in his trust and will, which he updated weeks after their marriage. Smith claimed J. Howard verbally promised her half of his estate if she married him. In September, 2000, a Los Angeles bankruptcy judge awarded Smith $449,754,134. Pierce appealed, and in July 2001, Houston judge Mike Wood vacated that award and ordered Anna Nicole to pay over $1 million in fees and expenses to Pierce's legal team. In March 2002, she was awarded $88 million. In December 2004, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the March 2002 decision, saying that Smith is not one of J. Howard Marshall's heirs. [http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11818750%255E2902,00.html] The U.S. Supreme Court decided in September of 2005 to hear the appeal of that decision. heir During the course of the litigation, Smith's career stalled. She was relegated to appear in low-budget softcore porn movies until 2002, when she was given her own reality TV series on the E! cable television network. The Anna Nicole Show focused on her personal and private life in the manner of other “reality” shows such as the recent hit The Osbournes. The show's debut was somewhat of a bomb, and then ratings dropped with each successive week. Critics blasted it, saying it was so bad it deserved to be pitied. However, it achieved a kind of camp or cult status as many fans found humor in Smith's absurd and arguably stupid antics. The show was finally cancelled in February 2004, due to “creative differences”, but has retained some life in reruns and on DVD releases. In an interview on Late Night with Conan O'Brien she was asked what her “Playmate diet” consisted of. She instantly replied, fried chicken. In October, 2003, she became a spokesperson for TrimSpa, which helped her to reportedly lose 69 pounds (31 kg). In November 2004, she was invited as a presenter to the American Music Awards show. During her live appearance, she experienced an unexplained personal problem or might possibly have tried to pull a publicity stunt. This led her to start making barely understandable comments about her body and TrimSpa among other subjects. Eventually, the cameras had to move away to prevent showing her behavior during the presentation while she was taken backstage. This incident would later become comedic material for the rest of the presenters to comment on and became part of the news the next day. Tabloids speculated that she was under the influence of pills or another controlled substance. Her representatives explained that she was in pain due to a series of grueling work-outs and could hardly read the prompter because while she is nearsighted, she did not have her contact lenses in.[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/16/earlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main655962.shtml] In March 2005, at the first Australian MTV Music Awards in Sydney's Luna Park, she spoofed Janet Jackson's 2004 wardrobe malfunction by pulling down her dress to reveal both breasts, each covered with the MTV logo.

Filmography

- The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
- Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
- To the Limit (1995)
- Skyscraper (1997)
- Wasabi Tuna (2003)
- Be Cool (2005) (Cameo)

Her appearances in Playboy Special Editions

- Playboy's Playmate Review Vol. 9 June 1993 - cover.
- Playboy's Nudes December 1993 - page 4.
- Playboy's Bathing Beauties March 1994 - Stephen Wayda, page 5.
- Playboy's Wet & Wild Playmates September 1994 - pages 6-7.
- Playboy's Nudes November 1994.
- Playboy's Supermodels February 1995.
- Playboy's Nude Celebrities June 1995.
- Playboy's Playmate Tests November 1998.
- Playboy's Celebrating Centerfolds Vol. 1 December 1998 - pages 48-49.
- Playboy's Sexy 100 February 2003 - cover.

External links

- Smith, Anna Nicole Smith, Anna Nicole Smith, Anna Nicole Smith, Anna Nicole Smith, Anna Nicole Smith, Anna Nicole Smith, Anna Nicole

A Man in Full

A Man in Full is a novel by Tom Wolfe, published in 1998 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. This 744-page satire portrays a high flying real estate mogul amid the intricate social dynamics of Atlanta, the vibrant capital of the New South. The book caricatures some prominent members of Atlanta society, including the former mayor Maynard Jackson, under the name Roger White, and renowned developer John Portman, via the character Charlie Croker. Released eleven years after Wolfe's bestselling novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, A Man in Full was widely anticipated; Wolfe was known to be working on the research for this follow-up effort for several years. Most of the mainstream American newspapers and news magazines gave the book positive reviews. However, a second wave of reviews in more highbrow literary outlets were more critical. Much of this more pointed criticism came from a cadre of established American novelists, including John Updike, Norman Mailer and John Irving. Man in Full, A Man in Full, A

Fairly Oddparents

The Fairly OddParents is a popular animated series created by Butch Hartman and first aired on March 30, 2001. It is produced by Frederator Studios, whose show Oh Yeah! Cartoons, showed the pilot episodes alongside many other first-run and one-time cartoons. It is shown in the United States on the children's television station Nickelodeon, and is also shown internationally. It is currently one of the most popular shows on Nickelodeon, second only to SpongeBob SquarePants. The television series is distributed outside the United States by the Canadian animation company, Nelvana Enterprises, Inc.

Overview

The Fairly OddParents is set in the fictional town of Dimmsdale, which is generally shown to be in northern California. The show follows the day-to-day life of 10-year-old Timmy Turner. An only child, Timmy is often preyed upon by such adversaries as his evil babysitter, Vicky, or his maniacal teacher, Mr. Crocker. Just as his situation was particularly grim, he was granted a pair of fairy godparents, named Cosmo and Wanda, who had the power to grant his wishes and were charged with making Timmy happy. Unfortunately, Cosmo is somewhat slow and dumb, and the two often come up with strange dangerous ideas; although well meaning, their wishes often go awry. Wanda, Cosmo's more sensible (and somewhat sarcastic) wife, must devote her time to ensuring both Timmy's and Cosmo's safety. These Fairly OddParents (a pun on "fairy godparents"), mindful of their secretive existence, disguise themselves as various animals and objects in public, always with the same peculiar colors to identify the two: Cosmo is always a light green, and Wanda is always a light pink. Other than Timmy, no-one seems to notice the talking birds, and pillows with faces and gold crowns. Most episodes end with a deus ex machina, because Timmy has fairy godparents that grant wishes for him. Many episode plots are resolved by Timmy yelling, "I wish everything was back to normal!" or something very similar. While never directly stated, the moral of the story is often that you can't solve all your problems with quick fixes or easy answers, and that doing the job right the first time is best, even if it sometimes means hard work. Each episode of the show consists of two cartoons (each approximately 11 minutes long), with an exception of the last three episodes of the first season, which had three Oh Yeah! Cartoons shorts in each episode. The show has a very grown-up and sarcastic humor. This helps give it popularity with both teens and children.

History

The Fairly OddParents first aired as a short film on Oh Yeah! Cartoons in 1998, which aired some ten episodes of the original show. Oh Yeah! Cartoons was cancelled in 2001, but Nickelodeon offered to pick up the franchise. This offer was accepted by creator Butch Hartman. The show began airing its own full-length episodes as its own series in 2001, alongside the now-cancelled cult favorite "Invader Zim". Although the Fairly OddParents was not very popular in its first year, it began to catch on later, attracting both a child and adult fan base. SpongeBob SquarePants was the only thing keeping The Fairly OddParents from becoming Nickelodeon's most highly rated show at this point. Early 2003 was the peak of popularity for Fairly OddParents. Its ratings were extremely high, and it very briefly passed SpongeBob SquarePants. The show saw its very quick rise to the top and fall in summer of 2003 when the show's first TV movie, Abra-Catastrophe! was aired. The film was a success and many products were merchandised. After Abra-Catastrophe, original creator Butch Hartman became less active on Fairly OddParents in order to pursue a new project, Danny Phantom. Hartman still works on the show but no longer produces it or has a major role. His job was taken over by Sarah Frost. However, when the show aired its new third season later that year, it was met with a wave of criticism. With new voices for principal characters such as Chester and A.J., many felt that the show had been dumbed-down from its original double entendre style of comedy. Jokes became more "over the top" and repetitive, as well as featuring much more potty humor (which the show previously used on minimum levels). Many older viewers tuned out, and slowly the show's ratings plummeted. Then SpongeBob SquarePants bounced back in as Nick's highest rated show, although it is assumed that it has been in a ratings slump during the past few years. In 2005, The Fairly OddParents remained at its seemingly permanent position as Nickelodeon's second most highly rated show, despite a slight decline in popularity. However, despite falling popularity, The Fairly OddParents did create new episodes that will be aired this year. A second Fairly OddParents TV movie was made, titled Channel Chasers. Since then, there has been other specials, like The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker, The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour, Crash Nebula, and School's Out: The Musical.

The universe of The Fairly OddParents

The Fairly OddParents live in Timmy's fishbowl inside a small castle, they are his pet fish when his parents or friends are around. In one episode, Timmy goes inside their fishbowl castle and finds out that they live in a huge, mansion-like castle. Cosmo and Wanda are actually from Fairy World. Fairy World is very different from the real world. In the episode where Cosmo and Wanda go to their high school reunion, Timmy tries to enter the door, but since he discovers that the fairies poof to their rooms, there is no door. Many of the fairies there stated: "Doors are for chumps!" during the episode. Fairy World seems the same as the real world, but different (as in simpler), and there are not as many problems that they have to worry about, compared to Timmy's problems. The landscape is made up mostly of pink and white fluffy clouds, with floating roads connecting houses and buildings (the streets are named after famous magicians and performers) The landscape also changes from episode to episode. The same bridge leads to Fairy Acadamy in some epsisodes, and in another it leads to a fairy spa. The majority of episodes have it leading to the main city of Fairy World. They also drew Timmy and Cosmo slightly differently in season 3 or 4.

Adult humor

Despite the show's target audience being children, the show's humor mostly appeals to adults (especially in the first seasons). The show takes many jabs at various film and TV parodies, the TV-movie "Channel Chasers" uses this the most. Also included as a semi-regular is Adam West who plays himself (and furthermore has a personality reminiscent of his Family Guy incarnation), whose playing his alter-ego Catman, an obvious parody of Batman. The show, during the Hartman days, had a lot of subtle sex humor incorporated into the jokes. There are many examples. When Butch Hartman stopped producing the show, however, the new team eliminated many of the sex jokes. This is one of many reasons many people believe the show has jumped the shark.

Production

The following have had long-standing or particularly significant influences on the show.
- Dave Thomas, storyboard artist - won the 2004 Annie Award for Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production for the Pipe Down episode.

Characters

Main characters

Storyboard
- Timmy Turner (voiced by Mary Kay Bergman and Tara Strong [main series]), is an elementary school student. With a few exceptions, he is always seen wearing a pink baseball cap and a pink shirt, which his parents bought because they were expecting a girl. (In real life, pink was used because the cartoonist ran out of sources of blue, which he really wanted.)
- Cosmo and Wanda (voiced by Daran Norris and Susan Blakeslee), are Timmy's fairy godparents. Cosmo is childish, emotional, and easily excited, while Wanda is generally more calm and mature. However, despite their differences, they are very much in love.
- Vicky (voiced by Grey DeLisle) is a teenage girl who works as a babysitter. She enjoys annoying and being mean to the kids she babysits. For this reason, Timmy, who is one of the kids she babysits, intensely dislikes her. She is also obsessed with making money. The only adults who know how mean she is are her parents, who she is equally mean to. She has a sister, Tootie, who she terrorizes as well.
- Mr. and Mrs. Turner (voiced by Daran Norris and Susan Blakeslee respectively); appear as Timmy's nameless, somewhat stereotypical, comically dimwitted suburban parents. However, Timmy's mother seems to be a lot more intelligent than her husband. Their first names are never given; however, in one time-travel episode it is revealed that "Dad" and "Mom", respectively, were their childhood nicknames. In the pilot episodes of the series (on Oh Yeah! Cartoons), their faces were always just out of shot. Timmy's dad's age was revealed to be 42 in an episode, released in January of 2003.
- Chester McBadbat (voiced by Frankie Muniz [2001-2003] and Jason Marsden [since 2003]) is a friend of Timmy, a street-savvy schemer and opportunist. One of his most prominent features is his braces, which, despite his state of poverty, are quite technologically advanced. His father, Bucky, is a failed baseball player and neighborhood outcast. He and his dad live in a trailer in which they don't have walls for their bathroom, their dishes are paper plates and Chester takes baths in the sink. Unlike Timmy and A.J., Chester doesn't like girls at all, they give him the hives. In Gaelic the prefix "Mc" means "son of" this may be intentional to imply he is the son of a terrible batter or has more horrific batters in his genealogy. Or it may only state he is of Gaelic descent.
- A.J. (voiced by Ibrahim Haneef Muhammad [2001-2002] and Gary LeRoi Gray [since 2002]) is another friend of Timmy, a very intelligent autodidact. He's the only one in his class that constantly gets A's on his school work. A.J. has an incredibly advanced laboratory; much like the titular character in Cartoon Network's Dexter's Laboratory, A.J. keeps his lab a secret. With it, he's able to make inventions like a DNA tracker (which Mr. Crocker now has to track fairies) and at least nine or ten clones of himself, one of which is in a pod filled with a liquid in his lab. He is shown in several episodes to have scientific connections with the government. Unlike Chester, A.J. likes girls and is easily smitten when he offers them dead frogs.
- Jorgen Von Strangle (voiced by Daran Norris), is a high-ranking Fairy official (possibly the head of Fairy World), the strongest fairy in the universe and commander in chief of all fairies. He is married to the tooth fairy and his best friends are Cosmo and Wanda, as seen in the episode titled Teeth for Two. Also worth noting is that he is the only regularly appearing male adult human-sized fairy that is seen on the show (Two adult human-sized fairy newscasters appear in "Blondas Have More Fun"). He seems to be an obvious parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger, in both thickly-accented voice and muscular physique. His muscules are his pride and joy, and he frequently inserts mentions of them into everyday conversation (e.g.: "I was taking a muscular bath")
- Denzel Q. Crocker (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui), is the somewhat estranged school teacher of the class Timmy is in. He is the only adult in town who believes in Fairy Godparents; as a child, he had fairy godparents of his own, but thanks to a time-travelling Timmy they were taken away. His fairy godparents were Cosmo and Wanda. While his memory of his godparents was erased, he managed to scrawl "Fairy godparents exist" on the back of a fairy detector, before losing his memory. He is therefore strongly suspicious of the amazing things that happen to Timmy, and he was almost successful in discovering about Timmy's godparents (in which case, they'd have to go away for ever). His trademark is having manic wild takes while loudly uttering the phrase "Fairy Godparents!"
- Francis (voiced by Faith Abrahams), is a large, overly muscular, gray-skinned twelve year-old boy who acts as Dimmsdale Elementary's resident bully. Despite his gruff unintelligent exterior, he's a pretty smart bully, he forces his victims to stand in a line and get pounded on the last day of school. He also schedules appointments for kids to get beat up, he even has a cellular phone if he needs to reschedule. While he seemingly doesn't pick on the girls as bad as the boys, he has no problems picking on adults and bullies them just as bad. Francis master Kung-Fu so well he now teaches it. He has a dad who seems to be an ex-convict and a dog that eats 1st graders. Oddly enough, he is one of super pop diva, Britney Britney's biggest fans.
- The Crimson Chin (voiced by Jay Leno), is a superhero appearing in comics and televised entertainment enjoyed by Timmy Turner. He takes the responsibility of protecting the city of Chincinnati, taking the secret identity of Charles Hampton Indigo for the local newspaper, The Daily Blabbity. Timmy works as his sidekick, "Cleft, the Boy Chin Wonder". The duo of The Crimson Chin and Cleft seem to be a parody of Batman and Robin in many ways, for example, "Cleft, the Boy Chin Wonder" is a parody of Robin as he was called "Robin the Boy Wonder". The Crimson Chin is also a parody of Superman because he works at a news company called "The Daily Planet" while The Crimson Chin works at "The Daily Blabbity." His origin is a parody of Spider-Man in that he was bitten by a radioactive actor. Finally, The Crimson Chin is a parody of Leno himself, who is known for his extremely pronounced chin.

Other Magical Creatures

- The Anti-Fairies are the opposites of all fairies. They cause bad luck and live in Anti-fairy world. Each one has the opposite personality of their fairy counterpart; for example, Anti-Cosmo is smart, Anti-Jorgen is wimpy, and Anti-Wanda is dumb and "eats with her feets," as she put it. The real Cosmo, actually had to have a transplant in one episode from the Anti-Cosmo. The organ that Cosmo needed was the Fa Giggly Gland; the organ that controls Fairy's ability to change into various objects or beings. The Anti-Cosmo, actually, is at large, having escaped after donating the Fa Giggly Gland to the real Cosmo.
- The Pixies (all of them voiced by Ben Stein), are magical creatures similar to fairies, but unlike fairies, treat magic as if it was a business. The pixies, with the exception of one, the Head Pixie (H.P.), are of nearly identical to H.P.'s assistant Sanderson in appearance, donning grey business suits, grey caps, and black sunglasses. Their various attempts to take over Fairy World have failed at the hands of Timmy, and they often end up being tortured by Jorgen von Strangle. The Pixies are possibly inspired by the Agents from The Matrix.
- Mama Cosma (Jane Carr), Cosmo's mother, who dislikes Wanda (or any potential wife of Cosmo with the exception of the female robots she built for him, for that matter) and often tries to plot of ways to split them up. They once got along when Mama Cosma was very ill, but she became bitter again the moment she got well.
- Juandissimo Magnifico (pronounced Wandissimo Magnifico) (Carlos Alazraqui), Remy Buxaplenty's fairy godparent and Wanda's old flame. Juandissimo thinks he's sexy. Cosmo is always jealous of him, so if Cosmo is being talked into doing something, Juandissimo can be used as 'bait' to make Cosmo listen to Wanda. His shirt rips off every other time he moves, but reappears magically a moment later.
- Binky, (Dee Bradley Baker) a fairy Jorgen poofs to him at random times, just so he can torture him. He had a TV show called "Everybody Loves Binky" (parody of "Everybody Loves Raymond) before "Timmy TV."
- Billy Crystalball, a Billy Crystal spoof who hosts various Fairy World TV shows.
- Big Daddy (Tony Sirico), Wanda and Blonda's father. He's the only fairy in Fairy World that can take care of "Stinky Magic". He doesn't like Cosmo and seems to be a gangster.
- Blonda (Susan Blakeslee), Wanda's identical twin sister who is very famous and stars in the Fairy World TV show All My Biceps. She is blonde, as her name implies. She has been described as Wanda's "identical yet somehow hotter" twin. She is similar to famed soap opera actress Susan Lucci, in which she is the only actress in Fairy World to not win a Zappy Award (a spoof of the Daytime Emmys/Oscars).
- The Sandman (Jackie Mason), A fairy who controls all sleep wishes and knows all about sleep-fu. In the human world, he goes under the name of the "Mattress King" and sells mattresses and beds that are guaranteed to make you feel rested.
- Dr. Rip Studwell (Jim Ward, however uncredited), A fairy doctor, and one of the only ones revealed in the show. He has a very large ego and enjoys golf. He has worked on Cosmo a number of times, including a transplant switching Cosmo and Anti-Cosmos Fagiggly gland. He appears to be modeled after Butch Hartman.
- Cupid (Tom Kenny), A flamboyant fairy who promotes love throughout our world. He is the commander of an army of fairies who uses weapons that make people fall in love e.g. heart missiles, love guns and the famous bow and arrow. His power actually comes from the love between people here on earth and when Timmy separates men from women (Love Struck), Cupid starts to die.
- Carnival Troupe (various voices), A group of fairies disguised as a group of carnival entertainers in the human world. They are there to look after runaway kids until those kids come to their senses and return back home.
- Imaginary Gary (Jason Marsden) Timmy's imaginary friend, who first appeared in the episode "Imaginary Gary" when Timmy was five. When Timmy turns six, Timmy wishes Gary to vanish, and Gary is stored in his mind with the rest of his memories, but later Gary becomes real with a wish (Imaginary Gary). For this reason Gary is constantly trying to exact his revenge on Timmy. He almost succeeded in "Escape from Unwish Island" where he kidnapped Timmy's friends and parents and took them to Unwish Island. Imaginary Gary acts as a stereotypical "cool" character.
- The April Fool, a character that always pulls bad pranks and gets dangerous comedy backup and sent back to Fairyland if his pranks can't be completed. Voiced similarly to Jerry Seinfeld. His catchphrase is "What's up with that?"
- Norm the Genie, (Norm MacDonald) a genie (also a jerk) who attempts to get back at Timmy for outsmarting him. Was under Crocker's command for a while. Claims to be fifty thousand years old. Has something against Canada ("They've had it too good for too long," he once said). Can't escape from magic lamps and an extremely abundant substance called "smoof." Lives in a lava lamp. Was once shipped to Canada, but didn't get the opportunity to destroy it.
- Mr. Fairy Cowlick, Jr., (Nick Bakay) A suave fairy who sings to Timmy on his fairy-versary. Possibly reminiscent of Frank Sinatra, but most probably named for singer Harry Connick, Jr.
- Phillip (not voiced in the TV show), is Cosmo's Nickel, Cosmo is seen sleeping with Phillip and worrying about mentioning "Her" in at least 3 episodes.

Other Kids

- Trixie Tang (Dionne Quan): Timmy's not-so secret crush (despite the fact that she's completely indifferent to him) and the popular girl at school. Numerous times, Timmy has managed to woo her successfully, but it is almost always undone in some way or another, often before Timmy even finds out he has succeeded. Despite her indifference towards him, it is hinted in the movie Channel Chasers that she and Timmy might eventually get married (Timmy's daughter has Trixie's pink headband but Tootie's glasses). She also has a liking for boy's things (e.g., comic books).
- Tootie (Grey DeLisle): Vicky's little sister who is obsessed with Timmy. She is the other girl that Timmy could end up marrying and raising a family with; who it is, is entirely up to the viewer's imagination and/or preference.
- Mark Chang the Alien (Rob Paulsen): Crown Prince of the extra-solar planet Yugopotamia. He was originally seen when Timmy wished for an alien monster to play with, and neglected to mention he wanted a fake one. On his planet virtually everything horrible is good, and vice versa, and he wound up falling in love with horrible Vicky; he returned in several episodes to try to get her. Later he seems to have dropped his obsession with her and wound up moving to Earth to escape having to marry an alien princess named Mandie (pronounced man-DIE). He speaks with an exaggerated accent, similar to the stereotypical surfer dude.
- Remy Buxaplenty (Dee Bradley Baker): a spoiled rich kid who often ruins Timmy's activities, and was Juandissimo's on-and-off godchild. His parents are very reminiscent of the Howells from Gilligan's Island, down to the Jim Backus sound-alike father. He has managed to get Juandissimo back, after a long time.
- Veronica (Grey DeLisle): Trixie's not-quite-so-popular friend who wants to be just like her to the point of obsession. She has a secret crush on Timmy.
- Tad & Chad (Tara Strong & Grey DeLisle): two popular and rich boys who hang out with Trixie and Veronica.
- Wendell (Gilbert Gottfried): the also-evil son and assistant of Dr. Bender.

Timmy's Back-Up Friends

- Sanjay (Dee Bradley Baker): Timmy's Indian back-up friend.
- Elmer (Dee Bradley Baker): another back-up friend of Timmy's. Elmer possesses a large boil on his cheek named Bob, which has a mind of its own and plans.
- Bob (Dee Bradley Baker): Elmer's oversized boil, which has plans to take over the world by controlling Elmer's thoughts.

Other Adults

- Dr. Bender (Gilbert Gottfried, but it is now Butch Hartman), Timmy's evil dentist.
- Vicky and Tootie's Parents (Jim Ward and Tara Strong). Her father may be named Vic (the name given to Denzel Crocker's own evil babysitter when he was a kid), but this is never stated and seems unlikely, as he shows no sign of being evil. Both are more intimately familiar with their daughter's evil ways than most and live in constant unrelenting fear of her.
- The Nega-Chin, The Crimson Chin's arch villain (or one of them). This comic book supervillain was accidentally wished once into the real world and was stopped when Timmy's parents became Mighty Mom and Dyno Dad once more. When Timmy then wished for everyone to become comic book superheroes, the Nega Chin took advantage but suffered another defeat in a Trojan War-like storyline. Considered as the most intelligent and clever villain in the entire series.
- The Dinklebergs (Carlos Alazraqui and Lori Alan , But Mrs. Dinklebreg is played by Lauren Tom), The Turners' next door neighbors, who seem to be much better of than the Turners. In one time travel episode it was revealed Mr. Dinkleberg used to date Mrs. Turner in college, before breaking up with her when he struck it rich. Mr. Turner uses every opportunity he can to make Dinkleberg miserable, and they often compete over everything from vegetable growing to charades. When he ruled Dimmsdale for a day (as Ms. Dimmsdale), he forced Dinkleberg to turn a giant wheel. They have no children (which Mr. Turner cites as the reason for their wealth, as they don't have to spend money on children, while Timmy's parents do). Though Mr. Dinkleberg often seems to be gloating to Timmy's father, at other times it seems the Dinklebergs don't realize Mr. Turner hates them.
- The Mayor (Carlos Alazraqui), The Mayor of Dimmsdale, who is jealous of Chompy the Goat's popularity.
- Bucky McBadBat, (Rob Paulsen), Chester's father, the worst baseball player ever. He wants Chester to be a great baseball player, but Chester is equally bad. He permanently wears a paper bag over his head. He lives in a trailer and has been known to throw mailboxes. Actually, kids are hitting the mailbox with a bat, as though to mock Chester's Heiritage.
- AJ's parents (Kevin Michael Richardson (Father) and Estelle Harris (Mother) )

Other School Staff

- Mr. Birkenbake (Rob Paulsen), the editor of the newspaper at Timmy's school, he's also a hippie that lives inside of his van. He owns many items related to something called smoof. He and Mr. Crocker don't get along very well.
- Principal Geraldine Waxelplax (Grey DeLisle), the principal of Timmy's school, who has a very pronounced Minnesota accent, and a one-time love interest of Denzel Q. Crocker before he became a lunatic. She enjoys eating sandwiches, fish, etc. very much, but not cake (she's frosting intolerant).
- Bouncer (Butch Hartman), a bouncer for the cool kids at Timmy's school. He has a chart to explain the system of popular kids (Tad, Chad, Veronica and Trixie) and unpopular kids (basically every other kid, including Timmy).Usually beats on Timmy when he tries to talk to Trixe
- Mr. Bickles (Jim Ward), an effeminate drama teacher who gets a new lifelong dream about every week. Also became the HankerChief after his magician episode failed.
- Mama Crocker (Carlos Alazraqui), Mr. Crocker's mother.

Celebrities

- Chet Ubetcha (Jim Ward), Dimmsdale's (vertically-challenged) News Anchorman. In one time-traveling episode it is revealed he is so short because of radiation from a 1980's mobile phone. His three known relatives are his mother, Annette, his daughter, Yvette (who appeared in the TV movie, School's Out!), and his father, Chester (appeared in the episode, The Good Ol' Days).
- Chip Skylark (Chris Kirkpatrick), resident musical heartthrob, who is famous for his incredibly shiny teeth. He may be a parody of Justin Timberlake. Briefly involved with Vicky; made the relationship famous in a song called "Icky Vicky". It is revealed in one episode that his full name is Chip Skylark III, and he is the grandson of Chipington Skylark (who had his own version of "Icky Vicky").
- Britney Britney (Tara Strong), resident pop diva. She is a parody of Britney Spears.
- Doug Dimmadome, owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome, the local telecommunications magnate and sports team owner (the Dimmesdale Ballhogs basketball team). Seems to be a stereotypical corrupt businessman, or a parody of Ted Turner, and has had a great many schemes (or deals) foiled by Timmy. He is apparently very intelligent, because in "Moooooving Day," he creates genetically modified milk.
- Adam West (himself), an actor's chest who has taken the identity of his most famous character, Catman, as well as the Crimson Chin while filming the "Crimson Chi

Trophy wife

Examples in fiction

Marriage

Definitions

Types of marriages

Western world

Eastern world

Polygamy, monogamy, and polyandry

Traditional cultures

Marriage today in Belgium, The Netherlands, Canada, Spain

Unique Practices

Recognition

Rights and obligations

Marriage restrictions

Termination

Weddings

Marriage and religion

Marriage and economics

Criticisms of marriage

Pragmatic marriage

Differences of opinion

See also

External links

Serial monogamy

See also

Misandry

Forms of misandry

Misandry in popular culture

Misandry in Mythology

See also

Links

Bibliography

Stereotype

Stereotypes of groups by other groups

Stereotypes within groups

Stereotypes in culture

Origins of the word

See also

Lists

Psychology

References

External links

Gold digger

Anna Nicole Smith

Filmography

Her appearances in Playboy Special Editions

External links

A Man in Full

Fairly Oddparents

Overview

History

The universe of The Fairly OddParents

Adult humor

Production

Characters

Main characters

Other Magical Creatures

Other Kids

Timmy's Back-Up Friends

Other Adults

Other School Staff

Celebrities