Marriage, concubinage and courtship are relationships.
A relationship is a romantic sentimental bond that unites two people . Within what is understood as a relationship, courtship , concubinage and marriage appear.
A relationship can be made up of a man and a woman , two men or two women . For many years marriage was limited to heterosexual couples ; However, in recent times, several countries have approved civil unions and homosexual marriages . The registration and formalization of the couple's relationship are very important since they have legal consequences and are key to adoption, registration in social works, distribution of assets, etc.
Characteristics of a relationship
The characteristics of couple relationships depend on each culture and the time . Nowadays, it is common for couples to remain in a relationship for several years before getting married or even choose not to get married. Decades ago, however, cohabitation without marriage used to be condemned at a social level.
When being in a relationship, one person assumes a commitment to the other. One of the implicit principles in couple relationships in the Western world is monogamy : each individual only has sexual relations with his or her partner. Violating monogamy is often a deal breaker.
In some cases, the members of the couple accept that the other has an active sexual life beyond courtship, concubinage or marriage . In this way, the relationship is classified as open and the concept of monogamy stops making sense.
In many countries, a homosexual couple relationship can be formalized through marriage or civil union.
Social expectations
One of the biggest problems of life in society for human beings is that we feel the pressure to start a relationship when we reach adolescence , since everything around us seems to subject us to this pressure. Our parents hope that in the future we will get married and have children, the media shows happy couples in spring landscapes and our hormones do not help much in the struggle to understand what we really want to do.
The typical confusion of the teenage years may be limited to the search for our sexual identity , something that is necessary for psychological development , but it is also possible that it causes us irreparable damage if we do not live in a healthy and tolerant environment. Human beings are not specialists in enjoying life, but rather we turn what for the rest of the species was a planet that could be maintained in balance into a battlefield plagued by diseases and difficulties that should not exist.
The problems that arise from bad decisions in the field of romantic relationships range from heartbreak that is overcome over time to unwanted pregnancies that end up destroying the lives of mothers and children. In an ideal world, each person would be free to start a relationship whenever they want, with someone who truly complements and respects them .
The enjoyment of a relationship
A healthy relationship can be very beneficial for a person, since it opens the doors to a series of experiences that are impossible to live alone . Although it is not correct to generalize and it is true that some enjoy not sharing their lives, others feel that with two, everything is easier , everything is more enjoyable; For the latter, therefore, having their better half is an invaluable gift.
Continuing in this positive picture and free from the infectious burdens of society , a relationship makes problems less burdensome, since they are faced with the help of the other, and pleasant moments are enhanced, because happiness has that peculiarity of growing if it is shared.