May, 30, 2013, Lansing, MI- American society has an abundant supply of taboos; some fade away, but some seem timeless and rarely change. Divorce and infidelity are representative of America’s ability to change their minds about cultural taboos, a new Gallup poll demonstrates.
It turns out when American’s are polled they show a growing acceptance of some once reviled moral transgressions, namely divorce, pre-marital sex, and unmarried women having babies.
As the Atlantic reported, pollsters at Gallup asked 1, 535 how they felt about these different moral issues and found that their ideas have shifted with the majority, 68 percent, saying that divorce was acceptable, quite a difference from just a few decades ago when couples who divorced and their children faced ostracism, scrutiny and even pity. People could lose their social standing in their Michigan community and churches. Unhappy couples just had to stick it out lest they be pariahs.
Because there was so much stigma attached to divorce, people were more likely to step out on their spouses than they were to seek out a divorce. According to a story in the Atlantic, twice as many people, 91 percent, felt infidelity was the worst moral transgression than four decades ago. Those surveyed find adultery more reprehensible than polygamy, suicide, and cloning.
John Sides a political scientist explained why attitudes towards adultery have grown increasingly intolerant, “Americans, and especially better educated Americans, have become less accepting of adultery with the passage of time.”
According to the Atlantic, Sides says that, “If you’re in an unhappy marriage, don’t cheat. Just get divorced.”
The findings, the Atlantic states “reflect the modern sense that marriage is primarily about individual happiness rather than making babies or ensuring communal stability.” The poll seems to emphasize that marriage is something people do once they sow their proverbial wild oats. Tying the knot is something people wait to do until they have reached higher levels of independence with their own possessions, homes and careers.
Finances and infidelity are the two driving forces behind a couple’s inability to make their marriages work. It is just nearly impossible for some to work through these divisive and trust-killing issues.
Since people would rather achieve individual happiness, they don’t want to be in unfulfilling, miserable marriages. Some people hastily enter marriages only to turn around only to end them in quick fashion, but the reality is that the majority of people wrestle with the decision to end their marriage.
The steps to ending an unworkable and unhappy marriage are different in each state. The filing procedures and minimum waiting period vary so it’s important that if you live in Michigan you contact a divorce attorney to outline each step in the divorce process.
Lansing-area attorney Stu Shafer’s primary goal is making sure you are guided through the entire process from the filing stage, through negotiations and even through the court process with his client’s best interest foremost in his mind and will apply his expertise, making certain you are protected throughout.
