More Proof Marriage is a Privilege, Not a Right

One cannot abuse an inherent right, like life, or liberty. But one sure can abuse a privilege over and over.

Take this woman, for example, who divorces her husband for no other reason than she's fucking bored.

If I were a judge, I'd certainly deny this douchebag the privilege of a marriage license.

Update: Here's a sort-of takedown of this noxious woman's views, courtesy of a family researcher.

Money grafs are in item 4.

Every couple of years, some journalist seeks to revive the myth of the good divorce -- often to excuse his or her own bad behavior. Sandra Tsing Loh is Exhibit A this week. In the most recent issue of The Atlantic, she spends several thousand words trying to justify her divorce from her husband of 20 years -- a man she admits is a "good man" and "loving father" -- under the cover of a sprawling, incoherent, and frankly disturbing review of five books on marriage and family life. (Among other things, the reader is regaled with all too much information about Loh's private life; we learn, for instance, that one reason she ended up divorced is that she could not replace the "romantic memory of my fellow [adulterous] transgressor with the more suitable image of my husband.")

Loh claims that her children appear to be doing just fine. Her two school-age girls -- aged 7 and 9 -- appear to be "unfazed" and "relatively content" in the midst of their parents' divorce. Who knew divorce could be so easy on the kids?

In reality, Loh is probably deluding herself. The best social science presents a rather different picture than the rosy one Loh is trying to paint. According to research by Sara McLanahan of Princeton University and Paul Amato of Penn State, girls whose parents divorce are about twice as likely to drop out of high school, to become pregnant as teenagers, and to suffer from psychological problems such as depression and thoughts of suicide. Girls whose parents divorce are also much more likely to divorce later in life.