....Our culture has already endured the craze of women divorcing their “narcissistic” husbands. As many people have already noted, if people with narcissistic personality disorder make up only 1 to 2 percent of the population, how is it possible that so many women around the age of 40 woke up one day to discover they’d been suffering under the tyranny of a narcissistic abuser? It was a bit suspect, but there were often theatrical accounts of “gaslighting” and sometimes a stated desire to protect the children.
The new loudmouth divorcees, however, make no pretense of protecting children or escaping great suffering. They just feel vaguely unfulfilled, listless, and uncertain. Some people in this situation might get a haircut, try a new hobby, or schedule a weekend away. But women online are convincing each other to end their marriages because they don’t feel deeply fulfilled by a mere mortal man who has, in many cases, remained faithful, contributed to raising children, provided a steady income, and been, in other words, a decent guy.
What’s the evidence that this is a social contagion? The uncanny similarities between these “brave” announcements. Online, you can find dozens of videos of women sitting in their cars (why are they always sitting in their cars?) proclaiming that the man whose life they are rending is “a good man.” Usually, they will say he is a “great dad.” Often, the women, some of whom do not currently have paid employment, have the gall to note that he is a “good provider.” Our culture is taking “no-fault divorce” to new heights! He’s done nothing wrong.
Women reassure each other that the “guilt” they feel for divorcing a good man is undeserved because they “aren’t doing anything wrong.” But aren’t they? Guilt is sometimes a helpful signal that we are failing to meet the standards of civil and moral behavior.
When a wife and mother chooses to divorce a good husband and father, she destroys her integrity by breaking the vows she made. It’s an interesting moment when you consider that marriage vows are a series of solemn promises not to divorce someone. After publicly proclaiming said vows and then tossing them out in a fit of middle-aged angst, your word no longer means anything.
A divorce craze is taking the online world by storm. Don’t endorse the Scrooge-like selfishness of unhappy, self-centered women. Divorcing a good man is not an act of bravery but an act of self-destruction that harms many others in the process.
