Category Archives: Families structures, divorce, etc

Mother Arrested For Leaving Nine-Year-Old In Park

Lenore Skenazy of “Free Range Kids” reports: Debra Harrell works at McDonald’s in North Augusta, South Carolina. For most of the summer, her daughter had stayed there with her, playing on a laptop that Harrell had scrounged up the money … Continue reading

Posted in Families structures, divorce, etc, In the news | 22 Comments

A few graphs about teen pregnancy and sex

Just putting them out there for reference and discussion. While there was a substantial drop in the pregnancy rate for 15–17-year-olds and 18–19-year-olds between 2008 and 2010, pregnancies among 18–19-year-olds constituted the majority (69%) of teen pregnancies. During this same … Continue reading

Posted in Abortion & reproductive rights, Families structures, divorce, etc | 11 Comments

Political cartoon: Marriage Fixes Everything!

Description of cartoon: The cartoon depicts a young mother and her toddler, in a small and crappy-looking room. The woman is bent double under a load of boxes, trunks and bags, each of which is labeled: Unemployment, Lack of Education, … Continue reading

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Class, poverty, labor, & related issues, Families structures, divorce, etc | 24 Comments

When Families Destroy Themselves From The Inside

On Tuesday of last week, I helped move my mother to her new house in New Jersey. This means that I am the last member of my family left in New York, and if you had told me fifteen years … Continue reading

Posted in Families structures, divorce, etc | Comments Off on When Families Destroy Themselves From The Inside

What Do Cultural Traditionalists Offer LGBT People And Abused Women?

There’s a teapot tempest going on over this Washington Post column. I basically agree with Conor Friedersdorf when he says “There Probably Isn’t Any Neutral Way to Report on Homosexuality.” A person who complains that the Washington Post’s “Date Lab” … Continue reading

Posted in Families structures, divorce, etc, Same-Sex Marriage | 45 Comments

Family Scholars Blog Symposium on Marriage Policy

Family Scholars blog is having an online symposium on marriage policy, featuring responses to their new “State Of Our Unions” report from various folks with an interest in family and policy. One thing that’s interesting is that this is a … Continue reading

Posted in Economics and the like, Families structures, divorce, etc, Same-Sex Marriage | 23 Comments

Single Motherhood And Crime In One Graph

At the Atlantic, sociology prof Philip Cohen provides this graph: Looking at it from the perspective of 1990, it was easy to assume a strong causal relationship between the rise in single motherhood and the murder epidemic. By my reading … Continue reading

Posted in Families structures, divorce, etc | 39 Comments

Are Too-Strong Families Bad For Society?

The ways that too-weak family ties can harm society are frequently noted. But what about the other extreme — can overly strong family ties also harm society? Mark Silk at Religious News Service writes: It has, of course, been an … Continue reading

Posted in Families structures, divorce, etc | 15 Comments

The many differences between polygamy and same-sex marriage

Does advocating for marriage equality for same-sex couples require us to also advocate for polygamy — that is, for legally recognized marriages of three or more people? I don’t think so; there are crucial differences between same-sex marriage and polygamy … Continue reading

Posted in Families structures, divorce, etc, Same-Sex Marriage | 15 Comments

Adoption is not a woman’s sole decision

Ozy Frantz is a writer I almost always agree with. But in zir excellent article “11 Ways Men Can Be Better Feminist Allies,” zie writes: 8) Support women’s bodily autonomy. On a political level, of course, one should fight pro-life … Continue reading

Posted in Families structures, divorce, etc | 104 Comments