[colanderman]

I'm pretty sure "strictly defined cultural phenomenon" is an oxymoron.

[alexro]

Is it a better way to use different terms for when people get together to have kids and continue the family and when they just 'want' each other?

[task_queue]

My aunt never married my uncle, they have been together for over two decades and have produced two pretty awesome children.

Reminder that this poll exists[0].

[0] http://qz.com/262645/people-without-kids-live-better-than-pa...

[colanderman]

Plenty of homosexual couples have children, either through adoption, IVF or surrogates, just like heterosexual couples often do.

[vidarh]

And in fact female-female marriages (though at least in theory not sexual) have a long history in some cultures as a means for infertile women to gain heirs...

It'd be inaccurate to call those gay marriages as some of the cultures they are practised in at the same time have been very oppressive when it comes to homosexuality (though presumably such marriages have been used as a means to hide lesbian relationships), but the fact remains women have been able to marry women with the explicit intent of having shared children for hundreds of years... [1]. And they're not few:

" Kevane (2004) estimates that approximately 5–10 percent of the women in Africa are involved in woman-to-woman marriages. "

[1] http://www.osisa.org/buwa/regional/female-husbands-without-m...

[ascorbic]

So if someone is infertile then their marriage doesn't count in your eyes either?

[alexro]

Exactly right - this will count as a tragedy and there is lots of research aiming to help such people to have kids.