Showing posts with label divorce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label divorce. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Laughing Matter?


Regina Barecca, a teacher of English at University of Connecticut, wants to know: is the following joke funny? Why, or why not? You can post your opinion here.

A husband and wife were having dinner at a very fine restaurant when this absolutely stunning young woman comes over to their table, gives the husband a big french kiss, then says she'll see him later and walks away.

The wife glares at her husband and says, "Who the hell was that?"

"Oh," replies the husband, "she's my mistress."

"Well, that's the last straw," says the wife. "I've had enough. I want a divorce!"

I can understand that," replies her husband, "but remember, if we get a divorce it will mean no more shopping trips to Paris, no more wintering in Barbados, no more summers in Tuscany, no more Infiniti or Lexus in the garage and no more yacht club. But the decision is yours."

Just then, a mutual friend enters the restaurant with a gorgeous babe on his arm.

"Who's that woman with Jim?" asks the wife.

"That's his mistress," says her husband.

"Ours is prettier," she replies.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

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