Besides "legal" implications what does marriage confer to a woman? Why isn't a mistress as acceptable as a wife? What's the diff?

Status.

Marriage is an institution that exists because men and women don't trust each other to stay faithful. The contract exists to try to enforce loyalty. It's not just a legal contract but also a social contract. Violating it has, or at least used to have, social consequences not just legal ones.

Marriage brings status because the fact someone is willing to enter into such an agreement with you signals that you are valuable. Only a fool would enter into such an agreement with someone who wasn't valuable. The higher the status of her husband, the more reflected status the woman gets by marrying him.

A mistress has no status because everyone knows she's just his whore and he doesn't consider her worth divorcing his wife and marrying her.

The meaning of marriage has been undermined because it now only serves the interests of women. The rise of no fault divorce is allowing women to divorce their husbands for no reason, steal half his wealth, and extract exorbitant child support / alimony payments. Men have nothing to gain from marriage. The traditional obligations of the man remain, but the traditional obligations of the woman are gone. She can give him absolutely nothing the moment she becomes dissatisfied. Any man who gets married under the current legal system is just nuts. This post was edited by Zeitgeist at May 20, 2018 4:49 AM MDT