Examining Wedding Rituals through a Multidimensional Gender Lens

Abstract

This paper examines weddings, which are rife with gendered conventions, as a window into processes of gender (re)production. More specifically, it addresses the theoretical question of the relationships among dimensions of gender—individual, interactional, and institutional—via ethnographic data evidencing both consistency and contradiction among levels. While there is evidence that the institutional dimension is reflected in individuals’ assumptions regarding what a wedding should be, and this leads to reproduction of convention in the interactional dimension, I also find ways in which the institutional dimension is inconsistent with individuals’ understandings and their gendered relationships. I identify these inconsistencies as “visibility cues” that make assumptions evident and allow for alternative gender performances. In all, this research answers calls for a more complex understanding of gender as multidimensional and provides an analytic tool for continuing this work, while utilizing a micro-level focus that complements existing studies of the inequality inherent in the American “white wedding.”