A question only Americans can answer.

twokidsinamansuit · 2012-07-23T20:21:15+00:00

It originated from the time when most women were housewives and the men generated the income. Whenever they would divorce the woman would often be forced into poverty (with children), giving men considerable leverage in the marriage. Alimony was meant to be a way to compensate women (legally, the lesser earning spouse) for thier sacrifice of abandoning the workforce to stay at home and raise a family. It also gave women more courage to leave a marriage, without feeling like they would be homeless (thats sort of ironic nowadays though). Then society changed. Women began going to college in growing numbers (today women make up the majority of college students) and entering the workforce in droves. Families with two working spouses became more and more common with the wages between the two getting closer. Women are doing better in the workforce than ever before, and thats not a bad thing. The bad thing is that the family court system didn't change. The older notion that women are always dependent on the man financially still runs rampant in the minds of judges, and men rarely get a fair deal in a divorce. Now, men are the ones who fear divorce because of the prospect of poverty (with the addition of the threat of prison, making it basically indentured servitude as well as bringing back the debtors prison) because of alimony abuse. Fortunately, alimony reform is gaining momentum in the US. It's slow, and often times discouraging, but there is still progress being made. I wrote this hastily, but I hope it explains it a bit.

XNA232Stang · 2012-07-24T01:27:59+00:00

I have no experience, but I know a guy who was married 9 months and is paying about $800/month for about two years. Totally makes sense. She's capable of working, but now has no incentive to do so. They have no children together.

I can't read his mind, but I know he says he'll never get married again. It's a shame.

newmobsforall · 2012-07-24T04:51:01+00:00

Alimony is getting to be a rarer and rarer thing these days, and it's not always without just cause when it is implemented.

2012-07-24T04:58:40+00:00

I thought of it as paying another man to take her off my hands. Best money I ever spent! It's like a dowry. Her parents had to pay for a wedding to get free from her and so I had to pay likewise. I'm kidding of course, but If it helps some poor bastard laugh about it, totally worth it.

2012-07-24T13:24:03+00:00

Originally designed to help women in a society that didn't always afford them the easiest opportunities to do any job they wanted (and often for women completely devoid of job skills), alimony is just an antiquated and outdated system.

2012-07-24T06:43:38+00:00

Pre-nups, motherfuckers. Use them, or get screwed.

rlaptop7 · 2012-07-24T01:50:39+00:00

[permanently deleted]

Title	A question only Americans can answer.
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	27
Comments	14
Date	July 23, 2012 8:06 PM UTC (14 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/x179k/a_question_only_americans_can_answer/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/a-question-only-americans-can-answer.1017346 https://theredarchive.com/post/1017346

Comments