Can True Love Come After Marriage?

 

Every girl has an idea of what her dream wedding will be. She has fantasized about her dress, the flowers, the colors, the venue, and the groom since childhood. It has to be her perfect day. But on the A&E television show, Married At First Sight, three women throw away all those fantasies and replace them with a spontaneous marriage to a stranger. That’s right, these women have never met their soon-to-be-husbands before; the couple meets for the first time at the altar. 

 

In this radical social experiment, expert sexologists, psychologists, and sociologists collaborate to choose who they feel are the best matches for these women based on social characteristics, emotional states of mind, events in their past, and the likelihood of the couple bonding. In today’s culture, there’s a huge emphasis on outward appearance. The purpose of this experiment is to see if two people can emotionally bond and build a stable relationship, regardless of whether or not they immediately find the other person physically attractive. In the words of the expert sexologist on the show, “People are consumed with the idea of physical attraction. But love, intimacy, attraction, and trust can grow over time.” This means that building an emotional connection with another person first can open the doors to a physical relationship, which can lend itself to an even deeper emotional relationship as well.

 

Although the couples in the show are in their late 20s and early 30s, the ideas about relationships and love the show is presenting can be applied to the college hook-up culture. It can be frustrating to be surrounded by a culture that turns a blind eye to finding “true love,” and some collegiettes, I’m sure, want a deeper relationship than a hook-up at a party. This show teaches women of all ages to not go out looking for the man who is the tannest, tallest, most immediately physically attractive features, but instead, to build relationships with men based on similar interests and common aspirations so an emotional intimacy can develop. After all, love may come not when you want it, but when you need it. I’m looking forward to watching these couples grow in their relationships over the course of the show, seeing what ups and downs they will face, and whether the experiment will be successful or not.