I would do aaaanything for you

. . . but I won’t do that.

So, maybe (?) you’ve never greeted your spouse at the door wearing nothing but Saran Wrap. But what would you do if you thought it would help your relationship? What would you expect your partner to do to keep you around?

Kristin Celello, author of Making Marriage Work and a guest blogger here a couple of months ago, was recently interviewed by Deborah Harper, president of Psychjourney. Their fascinating conversation, which is just under 50 minutes long (a billable hour in counseling terms!), talks about the ol’ Saran Wrap tactic and other desperate measures in an examination of views of marriage and marital success throughout the twentieth century. They cover economics, race, religion, childbearing, self-proclaimed “experts,” and changing gender norms.  Along the way, Celello explains how her study of weddings led her to study divorce, and how she learned a lot about American notions of marriage by looking at Playboy microfilm and reading Ladies Home Journal. We also get news of what she’ll be working on next.

You can listen to the interview at Psychjourney Podcasts blog or at Lasting Love and Marriage blog.

–ellen