Gyo does the Wall Street Journal.

Gang,

Please see the article written by Kay S Hymowitz and hosted by the Wall Street Journal entitled, Losing Confidence in Marriage.

I would urge you to read the entire article, as it brings up some interesting points. Be sure to read the comments as well... it looks like MRAs are everywhere!

At this time, however, I would like to draw your attention to the comment I posted in response to the main article and other people who commented on it:

A quick intro. I am a black man who is married with one child. I am also a Mens Rights Activist who has been speaking out about the bias against men in marriage, divorce, and the popular culture for 5 years now.

When the author states that marriage is missing from the black community (in other words, that black people are experiencing a divorce rate much higher than the general population), she is referring to articles like these:

http://grenadianconnection.com/Grenada/EventView.asp?key=2485

http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_3_black_family.html


http://blackamericans.com/blogs/news/archive/2008/01/25/about-80-of-black-babies-are-born-to-unwed-moms.aspx

The sad truth is that 70 to 80% of black children are born outside of marriage, and the prevailing attitude amongst my people these days is that "marriage is for white people." See below:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/25/AR2006032500029.html


Now, with that being said...

@ all readers:

As previous commenters have pointed out, the problem is not just that attitudes are becoming more permissive, or that religious values are shifting, or that the economy sucks now that the Real Estate Bubble has burst. These things are indeed contributing to our marriage problems. HOWEVER...

The most important factor, that is hardly ever discussed, is that marriage breakdown is driven largely by our ever expanding body of "family" law and "family" institutions that do nothing but to make marriage a net loss proposition for men today.

Please see:

http://antipoliticalfeminism.blogspot.com/2009/06/fathers-day-quick-shot.html

http://www.laryholland.com/

http://www.glennsacks.com/blog/

http://www.stephenbaskerville.net/

These sites will provide a wealth of information about the biggest driver of divorce, and the biggest reason why young people will do anything and everything except get married.

Since this is the WSJ, I don't need to point out that when governments pass laws and uphold precedents that negatively encumber or impact market participants, then you will have inefficiencies, unforeseen negative consequences, and the market actors will increasingly choose to stay on the sidelines until the market becomes more free, more fair, and less burdensome.

We all know this by default. If this is the case... why is it that otherwise intelligent people will forget this truth as soon as it is pointed out that governments are imposing unfair, discriminatory, and unreasonable burdens and regulations upon MEN, thus causing them to avoid marriage in the first place? To say nothing of the variety of moral hazards that cause married couples to blow up simply because they are encouraged, by a host of interested parties, to end their relationships in "family" courts and enrich "family" attorneys at the first signs of trouble or difficulty.

It makes no FINANCIAL (and legal) SENSE to marry today. Men are better off in every respect by steering clear of marriage in legal and social climates that do nothing to buttress marriage, and do everything in their power to rend couples asunder.

In summary,

All of the readers who are happily married are to be congratulated. I also enjoy being married, and we adore our beautiful son.

However, I cannot allow my personal happiness to cloud my vision. Black Americans, and others are suffering BECAUSE our social and legal framework does everything it possibly can to discourage healthy family networks. Those who are married are happy IN SPITE OF our present climate, not because of it. I challenge anyone to go through the "family" law, and observe the "family" courts in action. They do nothing to keep couples together and work through their difficulties... and spend much time relieving one involuntarily divorced party, usually the man, of this (his) economic and parental rights.

Men should go their own way, and keep fighting until our family policies are reformed to support and uphold genuine family relationships for all classes of our society.


Marriage: NOT FREE, NOT FAIR, and not worth it until laws, policies, and attitudes change.

Gyokko.