TY - JOUR
T1 - Happily-ever after
T2 - Self-marriage, the claim of wellness, and temporal ownership
AU - Lahad, Kinneret
AU - Kravel-Tovi, Michal
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2020/5/1
Y1 - 2020/5/1
N2 - The phenomenon commonly described as self-marriage is an exponentially growing trend in which individuals, mostly women, marry themselves. Drawing on a textual analysis of self-marriage accounts in online media, we argue that this concept denotes a new form of self-love and self-commitment – at the heart of which lies a wellness program, rather than a legal contract. This article explores this emergent concept, focusing on a notable, though not exclusive, segment of its practitioners: single women. We analyze the discursive formations and narrative formulas through which self-marriage travels and consolidates in the digital world. We explore this performative act in temporal terms: we introduce the concept of temporal ownership, to explain how self-marriage offers single women a venue by which they can claim to take control over their present and future, and reposition themselves vis-a-vis heteronormative timelines. Our account of temporal ownership is threefold. We analyze self-marriage as a declaration about ‘non-waiting’, and the creation of a ‘present continuous temporality’; as an act of ‘moving forward’, a meaningful milestone heralding a new beginning; and, finally, as a commitment to lifelong self-love. This threefold discussion leads us to a broader contribution to the sociological literature. In particular, we use self-marriage as a case study with which to flesh out the utility of thinking about wellness culture and certain aspects of neoliberalism through a temporal lens.
AB - The phenomenon commonly described as self-marriage is an exponentially growing trend in which individuals, mostly women, marry themselves. Drawing on a textual analysis of self-marriage accounts in online media, we argue that this concept denotes a new form of self-love and self-commitment – at the heart of which lies a wellness program, rather than a legal contract. This article explores this emergent concept, focusing on a notable, though not exclusive, segment of its practitioners: single women. We analyze the discursive formations and narrative formulas through which self-marriage travels and consolidates in the digital world. We explore this performative act in temporal terms: we introduce the concept of temporal ownership, to explain how self-marriage offers single women a venue by which they can claim to take control over their present and future, and reposition themselves vis-a-vis heteronormative timelines. Our account of temporal ownership is threefold. We analyze self-marriage as a declaration about ‘non-waiting’, and the creation of a ‘present continuous temporality’; as an act of ‘moving forward’, a meaningful milestone heralding a new beginning; and, finally, as a commitment to lifelong self-love. This threefold discussion leads us to a broader contribution to the sociological literature. In particular, we use self-marriage as a case study with which to flesh out the utility of thinking about wellness culture and certain aspects of neoliberalism through a temporal lens.
KW - neoliberalism
KW - single women
KW - temporality
KW - time
KW - wellness
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075182155&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0038026119889479
DO - 10.1177/0038026119889479
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
AN - SCOPUS:85075182155
SN - 0038-0261
VL - 68
SP - 659
EP - 674
JO - Sociological Review
JF - Sociological Review
IS - 3
ER -