contra divorce, the nuclear family, and "leaving the nest"
a "festive" rant
I wrote in
about Paglia’s take on the dangers of the nuclear family:The conservatives critiquing Trump’s recent pro-natalist but not-so-pro-life comments called to mind certain critiques of conservative “traditional family” rhetoric from the right. Plenty of progressives have called to “abolish” the nuclear family, due to how it excludes non-heterosexual couples and stigmatizes those who choose not to marry. Yet Camille Paglia calls to abolish the nuclear family on the grounds that it’s not traditional enough.
She cites that living with one’s extended family members–who “help form your identity”–had been the historical norm up until the Industrial Revolution. “Human beings were never intended to be trapped in a house with just their parents.” She fears that the “claustrophobic cell of the modern nuclear family” has given rise to psychological fragility, which in her eyes explains the “sudden spate of transgender claims” and other indicators of psychic maladaptation. (Chloe Valdary once tweeted that Paglia’s take made her “realize that BLM’s explanation of its position and conservative responses to it are completely incoherent.”)
As is often the case with right-leaning culture warriors, their reaction to left-wing rhetoric fails to adequately critique its errors and to propose an alternative view of real substance—rendering them the mere flipside of the same neoliberal coin (and sometimes ventures into pure idiocy, as Darryl Cooper demonstrated earlier this week).
Positions like Paglia’s can respond to the concerns of both those on the left and right. Let’s forgo indulging ourselves in empty polemical posturing and take advantage of chances like these to forge a new center that takes human flourishing seriously.
In addition to the psychological (and spiritual) benefits of living with one’s extended family, there are—needless to say—plenty of economic benefits to consolidating and sharing resources. No, sharing with and depending on one’s kin is certainly not always comfortable or convenient. But the cost adds up in the end.
This is why I am very anti-“leave the nest.”