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MARCH 18, 2014 INSIDE: SCIENCE FAIR P. 3 SWEET TREATS P. 10 SPRING SPORTS P. 12
MODERN AGE, MODERN FAMILY By Lavi Ben-Dor & Mary Mei, Co-Editor-in-Chief & Business Manager
T
he term “One big happy family” has been tweaked to fit the modern age: “One big (straight, gay, multicultural, traditional) happy family,” according to ABC’s comedy, “Modern Family.” That multi cultural, multi racial, interreligious, same- sex and divorced family has found a home in the modern age.
Defining Modernity
Data show that these non-conventional, “modern” families are becoming increasingly more prevalent in today’s society. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Communication Studies Chair Dawn Braithwaite, who studies family communication and relationships, said that the definition of the American family has changed over the past few decades. “We now think about family as not just defined by biology and law but also that families are chosen as well and families ‘define themselves for themselves,’” Braithwaite said. A family is now people who “share their lives over long periods of time bound by ties of marriage, blood, law, or commitment, legal or otherwise, who consider themselves as family and who share a significant history and anticipated future of functioning as a family.” Junior Tara Malloy, who has a stepfather and two stepsiblings, said that she believes the rapidly growing number of non-conventional families, such as those with lesbian or gay parents, parents
of different racial or religious backgrounds and stepparents or stepsiblings, has led to a growing acknowledgment of various family types. “I definitely think that there is an increased acceptance of unique families in our society. In my opinion, the idea of a ‘normal’ family is shifting from the traditional mom, dad and 2.5 children to something less conventional every day,” Malloy said. “I think that because there has been a rise in the types of modern families in our society, the heightened exposure to families
like mine is contributing to a growing acceptance of non-conventional families. Today, a family can fit a wide variety of frames and society as a whole is becoming more accepting of this notion.”
Same-Sex Parents
The image of two mothers or two fathers caring for their children has become a more common sight over the past decade. According to a 2012 study from the Williams Institute at the University of California School of Law, 110,000 same-sex couples nation-
wide are raising children, an increase from 63,000 in 2000. Senior Macy Davis’s lesbian mothers are among the samesex couples. Her and her brother freshman Josh Davis’s mothers were able to get married in August after a Montgomery County register of wills issued several dozen marriage licenses to samesex couples. One of their mothers, their birth mother, has a previous husband who is the father of Davis and her brother.
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