Let's Not Talk About Single Parents or Divorce, Shall We?

In the recent kerfuffle over Miss California Carrie Prejean's answer to Perez Hilton's question about gay marriage, Dan Savage pointed out in the New York Times that "no contestant would stand on that stage and argue for a ban on interracial marriage or come to the defense of a country clubs that banned Jewish members or condemn single mothers. All those positions were once considered thoroughly respectable, and people could argue for them on TV — pundits, candidates, beauty pageant contestants — without fear or repercussion. Not true today."

But that's an interesting point.  With divorce rates hovering around 40%, and 35% of births happening outside of wedlock, single-parent households are not uncommon.  And what's more, the public discourse surrounding divorce and single-parenting today is either nonexistent, indicating an ambivalent attitude on the part of the public, or shows it in a negative light, according to a study in the Journal of Marriage and Family.

Have we in the United States, as a society, really changed our views from 100 years ago?  Or have we simply swept our views under the rug?

photo: www.insolvency.co.za