A former lawyer has sparked debate by claiming that marriage is “made up” and may not make sense for many couples in the “modern era.”
Cece Xie, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 2016 before embarking on a high-flying legal career, made the controversial claim in a viral video shared to TikTok earlier this month.
In the clip, which has clocked up more than 445,000 views, the legal eagle — who, ironically, is engaged to be married — stated: “My biggest takeaway from family law is that marriage is just made up.”
“Yes, there’s a long tradition of marriages throughout history,” Xie continued. “Mostly for economic purposes, political purposes or religious purposes. But putting that aside, in the modern era, why get married? Especially if you don’t have some religious attachment to the institution of marriage.”
Xie subsequently claimed that politicians have often encouraged marriage “because it’s a way for them to create private social welfare networks and make your family responsible for you rather than have the government be responsible for you.”
The former lawyer, who now works as a content creator and lecturer at Yale University, admitted that it was a “cynical” take on marriage — but said there was also a flip side.
“If marriage is made up, that’s also the beauty of it,” she declared. “You and your partner. can make it whatever it means to you.”
Xie is engaged to her longterm partner, Nathaniel Counts, with the lawyer revealing that she and her fiancé have “talked through what we thought it [marriage] meant.”
“We realized marriage didn’t mean the same thing to us as it did for some of our friends or our parents,” she enthused. “That was actually a really beautiful process.”
Surprisingly, many viewers agreed with Xie’s “cynical” take, saying they married merely to make things more convenient for legal reasons.
“My husband and I got married merely for the formalities ( tax breaks, to make sure I get the money if he dies and vice versa without the red tape),” one wrote.
“It creates protections in the event you have a child with your partner,” another added.
However, a third claimed that legal reasons were precisely the reason why they would never tie the knot, saying: “I’m never getting married so when I die, my debts & medical debts die with me.”
Meanwhile, a separate TikTok viewer admitted Xie’s take was less-than-romantic, but had given them an urge to reflect.
“Wow, that cynicism will not only live rent free in my head for a while, but will also be stewing and I’m honestly not mad about it!” they stated.
It’s not first time one of Xie’s videos has gone viral on TikTok. Last December, the former attorney hit headlines after she shared an “unhinged” email she received from an undergrad while she was still working at her law firm.