Not Just Roommates
Cohabitation after the Sexual Revolution
The late twentieth century has seen a fantastic expansion of personal, sexual, and domestic liberties in the United States. In "Not Just Roommates", Elizabeth H. Pleck explores the rise of cohabitation, and the changing social norms that have allowed cohabitation to become the chosen lifestyle of more than fifteen million Americans.
Despite this growing social acceptance, Pleck contends that when it comes to the law, cohabitors have been, and continue to be, treated as second-class citizens, subjected to discriminatory laws, limited privacy, a lack of political representation, and little hope for change. Because cohabitation is not a sexual identity, Pleck argues, cohabitors face the legal discrimination of a population with no group identity, no civil rights movement, no legal defense organizations, and, often, no consciousness of being discriminated against. Through in-depth research in written sources and interviews, Pleck shines a light on the emergence of cohabitation in American culture, its complex history, and its unpleasant realities in the present day.
Reviews
"At a time when forty percent of children are born to unmarried couples, this book gives desperately needed historical perspective to the most profound, consequential development in private life of the past half century: the explosive growth of cohabitation outside of wedlock. Organized around a series of unforgettable portraits of individuals who became touchstones in the spread and legitimation of unmarried cohabitation, this book explores all facets of a trend that has produced intense controversy and opposition: from college students 'shacking up' to common law marriages among the poor, cohabiting same-sex partners, and unmarried couples households among the elderly. This book not only explains how a phenomenon that sixty years ago was derided as 'living in sin' became the norm, it comments forcefully and utterly convincingly about how law and public policy have failed to take account of a fundamental shift in American life" – Steven Mintz, Columbia University
"This richly detailed history documents the uneven and still incomplete struggle to remove the legal penalties and social stigma against cohabitation. Pleck shows how the movement for same-sex marriage has simultaneously expanded the rights of heterosexual cohabitors and obscured some of their particular needs. Can we, she asks, find ways to protect both the right to marry and the right not to have to marry in order to enjoy equal treatment in society?" – Stephanie Coontz, author of "A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s"
