Stephanie Coontz's Essay 'Five Myths About Marriage'

867 Words2 Pages

Many years ago, people believed that married couples would hinder the community as a whole. It was believed that married couples would only worry about pleasing their spouse and lose focus on the community. Over time there was a greater importance placed on marriage. According to Stephanie Coontz, author and family studies professor, in her essay “Five Myths about Marriage” she states that marriage used to be viewed as an“institution that organized everyone’s life, but they put more value on it as a relationship based on fairness, intimacy and fidelity.” That changing view has inadvertently made people more accepting of divorce. For most people, marriage is viewed as a sacred, lifelong commitment, but when the vows are broken by one spouse, …show more content…

The importance placed on fidelity has probably never been higher than it is today. In Stephanie Coontz’s essay, “Five Myths about Marriage,” she states that according to a 2010 Gallup Poll that only 23% of Americans believe that divorce is morally wrong, while 92% believe it is immoral for married men and women to have an affair. Mary Malone, a married high school teacher says, “Based on my own life experiences, I can name several examples in which a couple, with and without children, divorced instead of having an affair and hiding it from one of the spouses. They filed for a non-contest divorce to acknowledge that the fidelity piece of the vows could no longer be upheld” (M. Malone, personal communication, January 16, …show more content…

I do agree with Coontz that there are some situations which it is better for the wives and children to get out of a marriage where emotional and physical abuse is present. If women and children get out of that kind of situation, I believe their lives can change for the better. However, they still have to go through years of possible therapy and emotional distress in order to cope with their past experiences. I also agree with her claim that in many cases children’s behavior problems preexisted the divorce and are the result of the dysfunction that led to

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