| Foreword: Mormon American Masculinities, Ideal and Actual |
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xi | |
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| Acknowledgments |
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xv | |
| Introduction: Personal, Contingent, and Incomplete Views on Eternal Marriage |
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1 | (18) |
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PART I REVISED EXPECTATIONS |
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19 | (6) |
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A husband considers the ways his happy marriage violates the ideal praised by the Proclamation on the Family |
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25 | (6) |
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A couple's relationship seems like a Latter-day fairy tale--until he loses his faith My One and Only |
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31 | (6) |
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A gay man considers the way Latter-day Saints' expectations for straight marriage affect his own search for a relationship |
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There's Something about Mary |
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37 | (5) |
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A husband learns to love his wife more deeply by studying the example of her love for him |
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For Jess, after Eighteen Years of Marriage: Seven Fragments on Love; Or, Some Things I Carry |
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42 | (2) |
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In a love letter to his wife, a husband lists some of the familiar mysteries he cherishes in their marriage |
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An Apology I've Been Working on for a While |
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44 | (8) |
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A husband reflects on the division of labor in his marriage and how it affects his and his wife's senses of self |
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52 | (6) |
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A lifetime of failing to meet Latter-day Saint ideals exacts a tragic cost |
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58 | (5) |
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A stand-up comic from American Fork, Utah, reflects on what it means to be Mormon and single |
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63 | (8) |
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A young husband realizes that his gay marriage is the most Mormon thing about his life |
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71 | (6) |
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A husband who has left the church works to find the perfect anniversary gift for his still devout wife |
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PART II SEX AND ITS CONSEQUENCES |
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77 | (5) |
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After the birth of their fourth child, a husband undergoes a vasectomy to spare his wife any more worry about fertility |
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82 | (10) |
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Newlyweds discover that their intense physical attraction is not a strong enough basis for a happy marriage--or even a satisfying sex life |
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92 | (13) |
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On the eve of a trip abroad, a husband learns that his wife of thirty-three years is gay, after which they negotiate a respectful separation |
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105 | (14) |
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A young couple agrees to eat pie every day during the month of March 2014 while they also try to conceive a child |
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119 | (10) |
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A young man determined to marry early learns to be the man of integrity his marriage requires of him, especially as he reckons with what the #MeToo movement means for men |
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129 | (4) |
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A bisexual cross-dresser and his wife learn to have a mutually fulfilling sex life while honoring their temple covenants to one another |
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133 | (8) |
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A gay man and a straight woman navigate a marriage both believe they committed to before birth |
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141 | (10) |
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A husband's ability to connect to his wife is undermined by decades of sexual shame over masturbation |
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151 | (9) |
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A lonely husband briefly attains the intimacy he has longed for with his wife when she admits to herself and to him that she is gay |
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160 | (11) |
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A husband learns that trying to practice polygamy to please his wife does not heal their troubled marriage |
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PART III IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH |
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171 | (9) |
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A midlife crisis helps a husband understand how valuable his marriage is, just before it is threatened by a dire medical crisis |
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I'm Not Who I Thought You Married |
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180 | (10) |
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A young husband is forced to confront his own misconceptions about mental illness when he is diagnosed with depression--and discovers that doing so strengthens instead of harms his marriage |
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Holding On and Letting Go |
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190 | (8) |
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After decades in a straight marriage, a gay man discovers happiness with the love of his life--only to lose him to cancer after a short marriage |
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198 | (9) |
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A young man reckons with the way his bipolar disease wreaks havoc on his marriage |
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The House of Infinite Regret |
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207 | (11) |
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Addiction to prescription narcotics destroys a life, a marriage, and a family From Patriarchy to Matriarchy: A Marital and |
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218 | (13) |
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A young man from an abusive household vows to create a family free of violence and coercion with his wife, after which they learn about alternative forms of strength and leadership--and about aspects of their own backgrounds--when their work leads them to Indigenous communities |
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The Marriage Bed: An Essay and Three Poems |
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231 | (8) |
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A widower reflects on his happy marriage and the joy of sharing a bed with his beloved |
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| Glossary |
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239 | (4) |
| Discussion Questions |
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243 | (2) |
| Bibliography |
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245 | (4) |
| Contributors |
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249 | |
