Recent family-related news included obituaries of two luminaries in the fields of divorce and sex therapy â both professionals dedicated their careers to removing the stigma around these topics and to raising awareness concerning the importance of healthy communication between partners. Also in the news was: a clarion call to include âcoercion and controlâ in the legal definition of domestic violence; a look at the progress made in the portrayal of lesbian relationships onscreen and finally a hopeful account of how a divorce can be painful, but often makes way for a healthier family configuration.
Louise Rafkin, The New York Times, December 1, 2021
Rebecca and Drew Kuntz say they have had a healthier relationship since their five-year marriage endedâŚThey have spent holidays together as a family; he and she live about three miles from each other and share custody of their daughter. âWeâre fair to each other and also flexible,â he said. âWe try to keep it easy for everybody, including our daughter.â
Maya Salam, The New York Times, December 3, 2021
ââŚlesbian portrayals onscreen are finally starting to become deeper, more varied and more inclusive, moving beyond the aspirational (mostly rich, mostly white) women who dominated programsâŚâ in the past.
Katharine Q. Seelye, The New York Times, December 5, 2021
Constance Ahrons, a prominent psychotherapist and mediator who challenged negative stereotypes about divorce and sought to show couples how they could achieve what she called a âgood divorce.â A divorce could be made good, and could be better than an unhappy marriage, she posited, if couples handled it right â if they did not bad-mouth each other to the children, and if they cooperated in meeting the childrenâs emotional and physical needsâŚAhrons coined the term âbinuclearâ to denote two separate households connected by familial bonds, and sought to replace pejoratives like âbroken home.â
Patricia Fersch, Forbes, December 8, 2021
The author shares thatâŚâIf the Domestic Violence Laws nationwide are not amended to include coercion and control, more women will fear coming to court to tell their stories because they will fear the defenses raised by abusive husbands and partners. More women will suffer.â
Penelope Green, The New York Times, December 18, 2021
âWith exercises both physical and psychological â the Zussmans encouraged their patients to plumb their upbringing for clues to their attitudes about sex and relationships, and to examine how work, family and societal pressures affected their intimacyâŚâ