Mariage blanc (from the French, literally "white marriage") is a marriage that is without

consummation In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply ''consummation'', is the first (or first officially credited) act of sexual intercourse between two people, following their marriage t ...

. The persons may have married for a variety of reasons, for example, a

marriage of convenience A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than that of love and commitment. Instead, such a marriage is entered into for personal gain, or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as a political marriage. There are ...

is usually entered into in order to aid or rescue one of the spouses from persecution or harm; or for economic, social or legal advantage. Another variety is a

lavender marriage A lavender marriage is a male–female mixed-orientation marriage, undertaken as a marriage of convenience to conceal the socially stigmatised sexual orientation of one or both partners. The term dates from the early 20th century and is used al ...

, one undertaken to disguise the homosexuality of one or both partners. A

sexless marriage A sexless marriage is a marital union in which little or no Human sexual activity, sexual activity occurs between the two spouses. The US National Health and Social Life Survey in 1992 found that 2% of married respondents aged 18 to 59 reported n ...

, on the other hand, may have begun with the standard expectations. It could also be that the persons chose to get married but are both asexual. A variation on this could be where some form of sexual activity takes place but not intercourse.

Etymology

The expression may derive from the absence of

hymen The hymen is a thin piece of mucosal tissue that surrounds or partially covers the external vaginal opening. It forms part of the vulva, or external genitalia, and is similar in structure to the vagina. In children, a common appearance of the h ...

al blood on the couple's wedding-night bed-sheets. However, the French word ''blanc'' can also be translated to English as 'blank', as in the sense of empty. For example, ''cartouche à blanc'' translates as a

blank cartridge A blank is a firearm cartridge that, when fired, does not shoot a projectile like a bullet or pellet, but generates a muzzle flash and an explosive sound ( muzzle report) like a normal gunshot would. Firearms may need to be modified to allow a bl ...

, or a cartridge that is lacking a bullet.

Cases

An example is of a

Gentile Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym for ...

marrying a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

to protect that person during times of extreme anti-Semitism such as during the lead-up to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in areas of Europe menaced by

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

: "Baron Federico von Berzeviczy-Pallavicini ... ring the thirties ... made a ''mariage blanc'' with the niece of Demel's Jewish owners, which allowed her to enter a convent under his name and survive the war." In

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

''white marriages'' are the opposite of a traditional ''mariage blanc'', meaning a couple cohabiting and having sex without being married. The practice is not illegal in Iran, but it is heavily decried by as an example of "imported western lifestyle", most famously by Supreme Leader

Ali Khamenei Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia ''marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president o ...

who described it as "the darkest type of married life". Despite such concerns, the practice became more commonplace at the start of the 21st century.

Other reasons

A ''mariage blanc'' may also result if one or both partners discover after their wedding that they are either incapable of, or unwilling to take part in, sexual intercourse resulting in reproduction. Reasons can include

asexuality Asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction to others, or low or absent interest in or desire for sexual activity. It may be considered a sexual orientation or the lack thereof. It may also be categorized more widely, to include a broad sp ...

impotence Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of male ...

or frigidity, chronic illness or

disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, dev ...

in either or both partners. The marriages of

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

,Harris, Frank. (1973) 'My Life and Loves'. London, Corgi. p232 -243. ed. John F. Gallagher. Author Frank Harris claims that Carlyle had confessed his impotence to him personally, and records an account by Mrs Carlyle's doctor, who had examined and found her to be a virgin after 25 years of marriage. Harris's information is doubted by several scholars, the editor John Gallagher noted in a footnote.

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

Freya Stark Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 18939 May 1993), was a British-Italian explorer and travel writer. She wrote more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan as well as several autobiographical works and essays ...

and

Max Beerbohm Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (24 August 1872 – 20 May 1956) was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic for the '' Saturday ...

are alleged to have not been consummated through

. The brief marriage of

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

Antonina Miliukova Antonina Ivanovna Miliukova (russian: Антонина Ивановна Милюкова; – ) was the wife of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky from 1877 until his death in 1893. After marriage she was known as Antonina Tchaikovskaya. ...

might be described as a "lavender marriage".

Notes

{{Types of marriages, state=autocollapse Types of marriage ca:Matrimoni de conveniència es:Matrimonio de conveniencia

Etymology

Cases

Other reasons

See also

Notes