The Politics of Marriage
When Pam Anderson, Britney Spears, and Heather Mills McCartney are in and out of marriages like a McDonald’s drive thru, you have to ask the question, “As a society what do we want the standard of marriage to be?”
In some respects that question was thrust to the center stage when the now infamous “Client #9″ story broke last week.
Over the last seven days, the Elliot Spitzer sex scandal has consumed the nation to such a point that Sirius Satellite Radio has devoted an entire station to the 24/7 news and commentary coverage on the various aspects of the scandal.
Many were quick to condemn Spitzer for cheating. While others turned their talons on Silda for standing by her husband’s side like a dutiful wife of the 1950’s.
Have women not evolved since then? How could she do it after he betrayed her? Maybe she did it to protect her kids, were just some of the questions that have been asked.
Whatever your opinion, the truth is that it’s not our place to convict a person’s marriage simply because it unfolded under the media spotlight.
Silda’s decision to stand by her husband was a statement that we should judge the man and not the marriage.
She should be commended and not condemned because in today’s society when one in two marriages fail, she showed that marriages might not be about storybook endings but it’s also not about cutting and running. Which is more than our celebrity role models can say.
