Screw Your Family Values!

Why? Because I’m now classed as a “nonfamily household“. According to the last US Census, “…for the first time, a new survey has shown that traditional marriage has ceased to be the preferred living arrangement in the majority of US households.”

By the numbers this means that 50.2% of households weren’t comprised of traditionally married couples but instead were made up of selfish single men and women and heathens such as myself and J–, unmarried cohabitants, and homosexual couples. But the really fun stat is this:

By comparison, the number of traditional households with married couples at their core stood at slightly more than 55.2 million, or 49.8 percent of the total.

That’s right, we out number you by 0.4%! And the really significant figure: this represents a drop in traditionally married households from 52% in six years.

Reading towards the bottom of the article, though, reveals some of the philosophical takes on this data. Take the conclusions drawn by Stephanie Coontz, head of the Council on Contemporary Families:

“The growing length of time partners spend with only each other for company, in some instances, has made individuals less willing to put up with an unhappy marriage, while women’s economic independence makes it less essential for them to do so,”

Did she just imply that longer life expectancy and the financial independence of women are bad because it impacts contemporary families?


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