marriage-industrial complex

English

Etymology

By analogy with military-industrial complex.

Noun

marriage-industrial complex (plural marriage-industrial complexes)

1. The totality of businesses such as wedding planners, bridal registries, specialized caterers, bridal wear stores, etc. that exist for assisting with holding a wedding.
   • 2011, Samhita Mukhopadhyay, Outdated: Why Dating Is Ruining Your Love Life, →ISBN:

     Even when you want to do it for yourself, outside of the marriage industrial complex, it's practically impossible.

   • 2018 March 2, Kate Bolick, “All About Women riding the four waves of feminism at the Opera House”, in The Sydney Morning Herald:

     Also on the table was a developing critique of "matrimania" – the excessive hyping of marriage and coupling – and the concomitant multibillion-dollar marriage industrial complex.

   • 2018, Lionel Shriver, The Standing Chandelier:

     They were eschewing the catered cakes, goodie bags, and hired DJs of the marriage-industrial complex for a simple ceremony followed by a potluck picnic.

2. The set of American institutions such as therapists, self-help books, support groups, etc designed to respond to adultery.
   • 2004, Briton Hadden, Henry Robinson Luce, Time - Volume 163, page xl:

     The growth of the marriage-industrial complex has not done much to slow the national divorce epidemic.

   • 2007 March, Jardine Libaire, “French Men Don't Get Caught”, in Best Life, volume 4, number 2, page 112:

     There are strict rules in the marriage industrial complex. Almost all these sites demand the adulterer confess every act of sex, every telephone conversation, and every detail of every assignation.

   • 2009, B. Mousli, E. Roustang-Stoller, Women, Feminism, and Femininity in the 21st Century, →ISBN:

     Druckerman relays the story of Julia, whose urban, liberal background does not meet the profile of most marriage-industrial complex supporters, but who has nonethelss mannaged to absorb the values and even the narrative of the marriage-industrial complex: