Boomer generation, was divorce looked down upon to the point where couples reluctantly stayed married?

r/

I just noticed that amongst my cousins half of us have been divorced including myself. I only have 1 uncle that actually divorced and for good reason, his wife was batshit crazy and used to steal steaks from the grocery store as they made well enough to buy them. But a few other relatives also have good reasons to divorce but stayed together.

I also grew up with many friends whose parents stayed together for the kids but even I could clearly tell that the parents didn’t love each other. Dad was ALWAYS in another room or tinkering in the garage and the parents would only show up together as a family for big occasions like school graduations.

For older generations was like divorce was looked down upon and even feared to the point where a couple reluctantly stays together and just sucks it up being unhappy with someone under the same roof for decades?

Comments

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  2. Fun-End-2947 Avatar

    I think Boomers (at least in the UK) were the first to really embrace divorce as a way to improve their lives rather than it still being taboo.. at least in the late 80’s / 90’s

    I was a kid then and divorce was happening all over
    Of my school friends that I’m still close mates with, only one has parents that are still married (granted, many of their parents are now dead, but they mostly divorced before checking out)

    It probably depends which end of the boomer generation you’re looking at
    And I expect this is drawn rather firmly down cultural/religious lines, so even comparing neighbouring countries in Europe might show different data, and US likely less inclined due to a naturally more traditional conservative family make up (sweeping generalisation – I reserve the right to be 100% wrong)

  3. sploot16 Avatar

    Bro, Boomers are notorious for their high divorce rates. This is like asking a bear why they don’t shit in the woods.

  4. dildozer10 Avatar

    Boomers and Gen x were probably the first generation to embrace divorce. I had two aunts who got divorced, one was boomer and the other was Gen X.

    My grandparents were silent generation and divorce was 100% taboo to them, my grandmother endured 60 years of abuse and infidelity from my grandfather, but stuck it out because “divorce was an ultimate sin”, she was just raised to be faithful to her husband, and that was just how she viewed life.

  5. HairyHorseKnuckles Avatar

    As for the United States, a lot of it was bc women were pretty much stuck. Until the early 1970s women couldn’t easily buy property, open a bank account, or get a credit card without permission from the father or husband. And any money they earned was controlled by their husband. It was also difficult for women to initiate divorce even in abusive relationships. Marital rape wasn’t fully criminalized until the 90s

  6. meridainroar Avatar

    I don’t know about anyone here but if I make a fucking oath to god that I love someone i would never abandon them. Leave them when theyre dying.

  7. Strict-Brick-5274 Avatar

    Now we’ve an opposite problem where couples are staying together because it’s too expensive to be single in this economy even though they are probably toxic af together

  8. Brief_Error_170 Avatar

    Almost everyone I know has gotten divorce. Marriage doesn’t mean anything anymore. It used to be a stable way to raise a family and financial security with two people working together. Now it’s people just looking for a tax breaks.