2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumGOP Lawmaker: We Must Make It Harder To Divorce Or Teenage Girls Will Be ‘More Promiscuous’
GOP Lawmaker: We Must Make It Harder To Divorce Or Teenage Girls Will Be More Promiscuous
On Monday, the Iowa state House moved out of committee a bill that would make no-fault divorces illegal. Thats a huge relief for one state legislator, who fears that no-fault divorce will turn his 16-year-old granddaughter into a harlot.
State Representative Tedd Gassman (R) spoke emotionally about the legislation which would require all parents of children under 18 to prove their spouse had committed a crime, abandoned the family, or committed adultery saying that it related to the real-life scenario of his daughters divorce. That situation, he said, was at risk of turning his daughter into a hormonal trollop: ...
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Full article here: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/03/05/1670841/no-fault-divorce-promiscuity/
aquart
(69,014 posts)And granddaughter.
Makes me wonder if he wants her all to himself.
htuttle
(23,738 posts)yourout
(7,537 posts)LiberalFighter
(51,388 posts)Rhiannon12866
(206,872 posts)mac56
(17,575 posts)Gonna be some tense times at the ol' Sunday supper table, I reckon.
appleannie1
(5,082 posts)If anything living in that kind of stress could make them more promiscuous. And why are women always "hormonal trollops" and the good ole boys just sowing oats doing what guys do?
Divernan
(15,480 posts)Defeated his incumbent Democratic opponent in a newly formed district by less than one percent (0.26 percent) of the vote.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tedd_Gassman
Gassman(R) got 47.97 percent of the vote
Wittenben(D) got 47.69 percent of the vote
Looks to be that's what's left in the Republican party - angry old white men.
What a world view this old guy has - teenage girls are trollops?
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)More than one way to get out of a marriage to an asshole.
daybranch
(1,309 posts)While I deplore the legislator's ignorance I can sympathize with his desire to have a grandchild who he believes will be more happy if she remains in a married relationship, a relationship he see as generally preferable to promiscuity.
Of course making it hard to divorce may continue suffering of the involved individuals and not only females in unhappy relationships. Of course making it harder to get married may be a better solution.
I think in either case, the goal is to establish some continuity to the institutions that produce and support families and children. I hope most in the country see this as a valid goal if marriage is to continue to exist. After all the demands for recognition of marriage for the LGBT community, I would hazard a guess that most of us accept marriage as a profession of our love and beneficial to the individual and to society as well as a human right.
I guess the question really is how do you support marriages if you have the expectation those you love would be happier in a more stable committed relationship of mutual support. Do we become prescriptive as the legislator seems to favor or do we enable the situation. Are we going to prescribe laws making it harder to divorce and therefore interfering with one's freedoms or are we going to make the choice to marry and remain in a marriage more inviting in a positive matter. We have tax codes to foster marriage and procreation and ease the burdens of raising children. But we must look at the situation objectively. Are we doing what we can for example does the lack of a living wage contribute significantly to divorce? Do our welfare laws unfairly penalize families in which the male has lost a job? Do we prrovide the prenatal care needed when the money is not available in the family?
While I disagree with the legislators supposed methods and I certainly disagree with his characterization of the consequences of easy divorce, I believe many of us share the belief that mores decline (however we define it) is not good for individuals and the society. Rather than just ban divorces or make other attempts to compell particular situations, let us establish an environment which fosters good mores, strong families, and healthy nourished children. Let us spend less time judging , but see the situation as it exists and rather than emphasizing the ignorance, comment appropriately. So let us keep working for that system that offers freedom for al but which nurtures each of us in a reasonable way to preserve our choices.
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)AND community property! That means women are equal!! Women have been able to own property in their own names since 1836, the first year of the Republic.
This is due to the Spanish law which is far more equal for women than English or French (Louisiana) law.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Part of the Christian Dominionist/New Apolistic Reformation movement. Scary stuff.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)At most, they'll be less likely to get married if you make it harder to get divorced down the road. And wouldn't that make them "more promiscuous," not less so?
And what about teenage boys, Mr. Gassbag? Will they be "more promiscuous?" Or are they "just being boys?"
hamsterjill
(15,224 posts)Simply, almost - unbelieveable.
How do you go about FORCING a father to stay in a home? What if that father is abusive? As a good friend (a lawyer) always used to say, "a good divorce is better than a bad marriage".
Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)Is that I should just get right down to the County Courthouse and hang out around the Family Court.
Pick me up some recently-divorced sixteen year olds.
Bow-chicka-bow-bow.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Authoritarian til the end.
sakabatou
(42,204 posts)bobclark86
(1,415 posts)Emotionally stunting her with right-wing bullshit might, though...