Boy meets girl, falls in love and gets married, exemplifying the classic love story that every little girl dreams about. Some young girls even begin to plan their wedding before they receive their first kiss. What is never planned is divorce. One never hears a little girl tell her mommy, "I just can't wait to get divorced!" Unfortunately the taboo associated with divorce has been stripped from current societal norms. There has been, and always will be, serious circumstances, such as abuse, abandonment, and adultery, necessitating divorce as an option, however without the stigma attached to divorce, a plethora of young, and even older couples, frivolously enter into the bonds of matrimony with the thought that "if this doesn't work out divorce is always an option." Peter Kramer wrote "Divorce and Our National Values" claiming that "Once both partners are allowed to be autonomous, the continuation of marriage becomes more truly voluntary. In this sense, an increase in divorce signals social progress" (James 487). In this context autonomy can be inferred as the continual voluntary inclusion of oneself in the institution of a marriage. In his essay Kramer equates elevated divorce rates with social progress lending credence to the narcissistic perspective of "me" not "we" thereby trivializing the institution marriage. .
Kramer states "autonomy was a value for men only, and largely it was pseudo-autonomy, the successful man propped up by the indentured wife and overburdened mother" (James 487). Though such a statement was, and still is, true in some cases, one cannot take the extreme and call it normal. Using Kramer's logic one could equate every marriage in the 1950's to "Leave It to Beaver" and every household today to "Honey Boo Boo." When considering how Hollywood stars view marriage it is not surprising that divorce is considered social progress.
