Just a quick reply, Nancy. I have never thought of present-day United States (or the United states of the 1990s) as a country where a woman becomes her husband's property after she has said "I do". It's just that some of these "Lois and Luthor" stories have made me wonder.
I do find it slightly scary that in some parts of the United States, a woman might simply not be able to get divorced, if the court decides she hasn't got enough reason. Perhaps, if her husband has beaten her up once, she didn't go to the hospital to have her injuries documented, and there may be no one else who can back her story up. So maybe the court decides that there is no proof that her husband has treated her badly, and the simple fact that she wants to leave him may not be enough to grant her a divorce, if I understand you correctly. Besides, if it costs money to go to court to get a divorce, a woman may have to stay in an (abusive) marriage because she can't afford to get it dissolved. That seems very bad to me.
Ann
