Um.. This isn't meant to offend anybody, but I believe "if you don't have love, then you have nothing."
X, your idea of marriage is skewed, because my parents have been married for 40+ years and my mother hasn't been stripped of her free will, neither has many of my friend's marriages and we've all been perfectly happy with our lives thus far, so I dunno where that factoid you posted comes from but it's not true at all. The "exploitation" you describe is only in limited circumstances. No offense but if you really think this is how all marriages work then your mindset is very limited since there are many, thousands of circumstances that prove otherwise, mines included.