It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into forced marriage. (Discuss)

A shotgun wedding is an expression referring to a type of wedding which is arranged not because of the desire of the participants, but to avoid embarrassment due to an unintentional pregnancy. The phrase is an American colloquialism based on a supposed scenario (hyperbole) that the father of the pregnant daughter, almost by accepted custom, must resort to using coercive force (the shotgun) to ensure that the man who impregnated her goes through with the wedding. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Forced marriage is a term used in the Occident to describe traditional arranged marriages in which one or more of the parties (usually the woman) is married without his/her consent or against his/her will. ... A pregnant woman near the end of her term Pregnancy is the carrying of one or more embryos or fetuses by female mammals, including humans, inside their bodies. ... Look up Colloquialism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about a figure of speech. ... A pump-action, a Remington 870, two semi-automatic action Remington 1100 shotguns, 20 boxes of shotgun shells, a clay trap, and three boxes of clay pigeons. ...

The "shotgun wedding" has become simply an expression, referring to any hasty marriage arranged due to unplanned pregnancy. The use of duress or violent coercion to marry is no longer common in the U.S., although many anecdotal stories and folksongs record instances of such coercion in 18th- and 19th-century America. Often a couple will arrange a shotgun wedding without explicit outside encouragement, and some religious teachings consider it a moral imperative to marry in that situation. In the modern American usage, the term is sometimes used for a forced marriage on discovery of sexual relations, even when the bride has not become pregnant.

One purpose can be to get recourse from the male for the act of impregnation; another reason is to ensure that the child is taken care of and that both parents stay together to raise him or her. In some cases, as in early America and in the Middle East, a major objective was the restoring of social honor to the mother. The practice is also a loophole method of preventing the birth of legally illegitimate children, or (if the marriage occurs early enough) to conceal that conception occurred prior to marriage. In some societies the stigma attached to pregnancy out of wedlock can be enormous, and coercive means (in spite of the legal defense of undue influence) for gaining recourse are often seen as the prospective father-in-law's "right," and an important (albeit unconventional) coming of age event for the young father-to-be. Honor (or honor) comprises the reputation, self-perception or moral identity of an individual or of a group. ... Illegitimacy is a term that was once in common use for the status of being born to parents who were not validly married to one another. ... Social stigma is severe social disapproval of personal characteristics or beliefs that are against cultural norms. ... // Illegitimacy is a term that was once in common use for the status of being born to parents who were not validly married to one another. ... Undue influence (as a term in jurisprudence) is an equitable doctrine that involves one person taking advantage of a position of power over another person. ... It has been suggested that Coming of Age (Unitarian Universalism) be merged into this article or section. ...

The phenomenon has become less common as the stigma associated with out-of-wedlock births has declined and the number of these births increased.

Sometimes a woman who marries while pregnant, regardless of the situation, is simply referred to as a shotgun bride.

Popular culture

• Roy C had a 1965 hit single, "Shotgun Wedding"
• Billy Idol's hit "White Wedding" is about a shotgun wedding.
• The Dixie Chicks song "White Trash Wedding" from the album Home alludes to a shotgun wedding.
• A Panic! at the Disco song, "Time to Dance", makes reference to the phrase.
• The Beck song "Loser" references this phrase.
• In the sitcom The Golden Girls, Dorothy and her now-ex-husband Stan were married after he got her pregnant when they were in high school.
• In the sitcom The Simpsons, Homer and Marge are married after Marge becomes pregnant with Bart. The wedding chapel where they marry is named Shotgun Pete's.
• In the sitcom My Wife and Kids, Junior married his girlfriend shortly after discovering that she was pregnant.
• In the sitcom Married with Children, Al Bundy literally had a shotgun wedding, when he was forced to marry Peggy by her shotgun-wielding dad.
• A song from Relient K's album Five Score and Seven Years Ago, called "Deathbed" mentions a shotgun wedding ("Got married on my twenty-first/eight months before my wife would give birth/it's easier to be sure you love someone/when a father inquires with the barrel of a gun.")
• In a Japanese drama Dekichatta Kekkon できちゃった結婚 , Ryoko Hirosue's character was found to be pregnant and a shotgun wedding soon followed.
• In the roleplaying computer videogame Fallout 2, if the player character has enough charisma, he can have sex with either a man or a woman in the city of Modoc, and after their father discovers the player during the act, the following scene is a shotgun wedding, and the bride/husband will join the player as a travelling companion.
• The Agony Scene, a popular metalcore band from Tulsa, has a song titled "Shotgun Wedding", from the album The Agony Scene (album).

This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Billy Idol (born William Michael Albert Broad, 30 November 1955 in Middlesex) is an English rock musician. ... White Wedding is a song by Billy Idol that appeared on his album Billy Idol (1982). ... The Dixie Chicks are a thirteen-time Grammy Award-winning female country/rock music trio from the United States comprising Emily Robison, Martie Maguire and Natalie Maines. ... Home is the sixth album by American country band Dixie Chicks, released in 2002 (see 2002 in music). ... Panic! at the Disco is an alternative rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article contains a trivia section. ... One can consider Loser to be a fluke hit. ... The Golden Girls is an American sitcom that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985 to May 9, 1992. ... Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak (Now Hollingsworth) is a fictional character from the TV series, The Golden Girls. ... Stanley Zbornak is a fictional tv character featured on The Golden Girls and played by Herb Edelman. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Dan Castellaneta. ... Marjorie Marge Simpson (née Bouvier) is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons and is voiced by Julie Kavner. ... Bart and his sister Lisa as news anchors. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Married. ... Information Nickname(s) Al Species Human Gender Male Date of birth 1948 Occupation Shoe Salesman Family Mother, father (deceased) Relationships Pegg Children Bud and Kelly Episode count 259 Portrayed by Ed ONeill Alphonse Hercules Bundy (born ca. ... Relient K is a band from Canton, Ohio. ... Five Score and Seven Years Ago is the fifth full-length album by the Christian rock band Relient K. It was released on March 6, 2007, and it is the first album by the band to feature bassist John Warne and guitarist Jon Schneck. ... Image:Hirosue. ... Fallout 2 is a critically-acclaimed computer role-playing game published by Interplay in 1998. ... The Agony Scene is a Metalcore band from Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, whose musical style is a combination of thrash metal and hardcore. ... Downtown Tulsa Tulsa is the second-largest city in Oklahoma. ... The Agony Scene is the debut self-titled album released by the metalcore band The Agony Scene. ...

See also

• Forced marriage