[Editor's note: divorce, custody, and their relation to feminism are subjects that often come up at ADG meetings, even though none of the principals are directly impacted by them.]

Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 01:13:58 -0400
From: "H. Cunningham"
Subject: From ADG meeting July 10th -- divorce and child custody

One subject that came up briefly [at the 10 Jul 2000 meeting] was divorce and child custody. Warren mentioned some academic (whose name I have temporarily mislaid) who advocated cutting the divorce rate by giving the father presumptive custody rights.

The subject came up again Tues morning in the "New York Times" (11 Jul 2000, p. A27). John Tierney rehearsed the question, though advocating a more mainstream, neutral approach -- a presumption in favor of joint custody.

http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/regional/071100ny-col-tierney.html

[...] "Across America, at least two-thirds of divorce suits are filed by women. Researchers who have interviewed divorcing couples have repeatedly found that, in cases where the divorce is not mutually desired, women are more than twice as likely to be the ones who want out. After the split, women are typically happier than their exes." [...]

I have found Tierney one of the NYT's more interesting columnists, though the similarity of his center-right ideology to mine may be in part responsible. He may be underestimated because his pieces, under the general title "The Big City," are off the op-ed page, in the local news section.

--Hugo Cunningham