Mitt Romney’s attack on unmarried people during this week’s debate left Nicole Rodgers asking: Are his outdated family values becoming a threat to ours? During Tuesday night’s second presidential debate, while answering a question about assault rifles, Mitt Romney veered off on a family-values tangent. “But gosh, to tell our kids that before they have […]
A New Jersey couple shares how their marriage came to the brink of divorce, but bounced back after learning how to channel the trauma of childhood sexual abuse. There’s something exceptional between Rhett Hackett and his wife, Sheryl. Together for 23 years, it’s obvious they’re dedicated to each other, even as they sit across from […]
When children come along, couples must reevaluate their marriage contract. In The New York Times piece “Till Death, or 20 Years, Do Us Part” Matt Richtel explores the meaning of marriage today, including proposals in Mexico City to create short-term renewable marriage contracts as brief as two years as a way to deal with how […]
This originally appeared on ShrinkTalk.net in a slightly different version. Republished here with permission. During a recent session, a couple who had been married for about five years decided to end their relationship. The wife told the husband very matter-of-factly, saying that “they had simply grown apart and couldn’t stop fighting.” Neither he nor I […]
Marriage certainly has its problems but as they say about Democracy, it sure beats the alternatives, according to author Lisa Levey. Matt Richtel’s Sept. 28th New York Times article “Till Death, or 20 Years, Do Us Part” explores the question of whether marriage in its current form has become obsolete. Given the reality that nearly […]
This week’s roundup of our favorites from across the interwebs to help you make sense of men and women. 1. The Myth of Male Decline by Stephanie Coontz of The New York Times says reports of a matriarchy are exaggerated. In many arenas, the progress of women has stalled. 2. The Mockery Feminists by Katie […]
A pre-nup/post-nup marriage agreement made sense to Michael Erard, but not to the woman he planned to wed. Entering a marriage for a pre-determined amount of time—what’s also called a contract marriage—is a good idea, if you ask me, and it deserved the airtime it received in a recent New York Times think piece. Maybe […]
Eric Sentell says if two people view marriage as a temporary commitment, then they will probably treat it as such. When discussing divorce in his critique of American culture, The Closing of the American Mind, Allan Bloom argues that our society is quickly adopting a no-risk, low-stakes, consequence-free attitude toward marriage and the family. If […]
Is there a time limit on true love? In the wake of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s much-publicized breakup, it seems that the new Big Question For Society is time-release marriages, as discussed by Matt Richtel in the hallowed pages of the New York Times. That is: marriages on a contract basis, lasting a few years or maybe 20, […]
Attorney Kate McGuinness discusses the idea of moving toward limited-term marriage contracts versus traditional marriages. Humans are notoriously stubborn about giving up harmful habits. Smoking is one obvious example. Packing on the pounds is another. Marriage is a third. A recent article in the New York Times exploring the virtues of renewable limited-term marriage contracts […]
This originally appeared on From Two To One, as part of the Last Name Project. Republished here with permission. A few days before my wedding at age 32, my father learned that I was keeping my birth name. My mother recalls the conversation as this: Father: Hmm, what’s that all about? Mother: I don’t know, […]
A former exercise addict, Hugo Schwyzer shares how he gave up marathons for fatherhood. “It’s time to go shopping for new pants,” my wife told me gently a few weeks ago. She was feeding our infant son; I was in the bathroom, getting dressed for a meeting, pulling on a favorite pair of jeans. The […]
