With a title like that, how could I resist mentioning this post on the Family Law Prof Blog? The post refers to an article in The New York Times on "The Joys of Vicarious Divorce". It seems that in America, as over here (witness my Celebrity Watch posts), married people are obsessed with divorced people, despite (or perhaps because of) the falling divorce rate. Instead of getting divorced themselves, they are indulging in 'divorce porn' - watching films about divorce (such as 'Eat Pray Love', the biggest adult film of the summer), watching TV programmes about it and reading about it in books and magazines. As the article states: "Divorce porn may be that rare indulgence that actually slakes interest in the activity it celebrates."Clearly, divorce porn is not something that we divorce lawyers should encourage.
John, this one is interesting. I do think divorce has become a bit of spectator sport and it does bring out our voyeuristic tendencies, especially the divorce of news-worthy figures and public figures, but maybe even that of our friends and neighbors. Anyways I piggybacked on it and wrote this on our Americandivorce blog: http://www.divorcesaloon.com/divorce-porn-have-we-become-a-nation-of-voyeurs-who-enjoy-watching-and-listening-to-other-peoples-divorce-stories
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work at Family Lore.
Divorce Saloon, NYC