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THE NATION
Just as the seasons of the year come earlier and earlier, and in the middle of winter you begin to feel the heat of summer or vice versa, crises in stable couples arrive long before the age of seven.
Perhaps accelerated by social networks – which today multiply the erotic offer of any individual – shortly after having married or committed to a romantic relationship, one of the parties begins to experience a mixture of boredom and boredom that over time usually ends in rejection. , or what they now describe as effect ick (something like yuck), a popular term on TikTok to describe sudden revulsion towards the person we are dating. Something similar could be happening to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who for weeks have been appearing separately, with their own agendas, in various actions and public events that until recently they attended holding hands. Prince Harry has fulfilled his role as an activist and global leader alone, traveling to Africa and participating in events between New York and London; while Meghan supports charitable causes almost without leaving California.
Called to their game, the sensational media does not stop with speculation: according to some, she is rearming herself to return against the Windsors, while he longs to return to his environment. britishso different from the American. However, the most likely argument for this eventual distancing between your highnesses be that of the inevitable “seventh year itch”: after a long honeymoon – six years of marriage, plus two of boyfriends – sustained by the sexual fuse and family plans, Meghan and Harry are looking for their strategy to survive the next thing, which is that stage ick or turning point typical of long relationships.
Named after the 1952 film starring Marilyn Monroe, the seventh year crisis refers to a time when couples fall into marital dissatisfaction, a phenomenon that has been very well documented in numerous academic studies. It has already been shown, at least in the United States (and in some parts of Europe and Australia), that Divorce rates occur more frequently within that time frame. “Historically, that is the time when couples have moved beyond the dating and courtship stage, living together and the early years of marriage. ‘Real life’ has settled. The dopamine and oxytocin (love hormones) that were released in abundance during falling in love have now been depleted. As a result, romantic feelings tend to fade,” therapists Charles J. Orlando and Jessica Griffin noted in a study.
Factors like lack of personal space, monotony and poor communication play a crucial role in this period of stagnation and disillusionment that, from an evolutionary perspective, according to anthropologist Helen Fisher, occurs or peaks around age four and not at seven. However, the effect ick or sudden repulsion syndrome manifests itself unconsciously, when suddenly a gesture that was previously moving becomes annoying. Behind that something that triggers it – a prelude to physical rejection – There may be arguments, cooling of the relationship due to neglect, anxiety due to family or financial problems, a bodily change in one of the two, an illness or sexual dysfunctions, among the main factors. In this context, evoking the plot of the famous Hollywood film, infidelity appearsas stated in research published in the Journal of Marriage and Family based on a survey conducted in the US on when infidelity was most likely to occur within marriage (in that case, heterosexual).
The seventh year itch told the story of Richard Sherman, a New York advertising man who spent a hot summer working in the city while his wife and children were on vacation. Everything was going normally until one day the upstairs neighbor appears, starring none other than Marilyn Monroe. Sex, adultery and erotic fantasies were key in this play whose title became a classic, which became even more classic. for that scene where the most desired blonde in the world stood on a subway grate and the skirt of her dress flew.
Considering the excessive media attention that Harry and Meghan receive every time they move out of their private orbit, it is almost impossible to think that any of them can throw a little hair in the air without being seen, like any neighbor’s son. Make your own plans, develop your interests and grow separately but together (having agreed beforehand) It can be a strategy to get through the inevitable torpor of life together, and it is an indication that, although things are bad, at least there is a will to continue. Long live the Sussexes….
THE NATION