Excellent Occidental College student Ryan Metzler made a great 7 minute documentary about the decline of heteronormativity. Interviewing me and several other scholars and activists about the history of marriage and the changing definition of family, he offers a quick and optimistic analysis of what it means for this country to be changing.
Comments 30
Larry Charles Wilson — July 7, 2013
The institution of marriage in the "Western World" has changed many times over the last 6,000 years. That it might be in a period of flux now should be of no surprise to anyone with a smattering of historical perspective.
P.S. Occidental College needs to change its name. As it is it is racist.
Brutus — July 8, 2013
5:58 "There's about a hundred sperm banks in the country."
CBS disagrees, giving a value of over 700 in 2012.
A different academic project quotes a value of "about 150" in March 2000.
If the expert on sperm banks gets the basic, easy facts wrong, how much can we trust the total of about 7 claims of facts (as opposed to subjective observations, opinions, and conclusions) made during the video?
I don't think that there was established even any specific claim about family structure before the mass-media era. My understanding was that the pair of adults living separately from their parents while they raise their own children is itself a recent phenomenon, possible only in at least moderately industrial economies. My prior understanding could very well be wrong, but I didn't even see a claim that family structure prior to the 1950's was considered.
Tech note: Use two cameras at complementary angles for each interview, and when you jump cut, change from camera A to camera B, or vice versa. That way the video appears continuous, without the visible jump e.g. at 6:19 after "That is our main focus."
Anonymous — April 22, 2021
There is nothing to read or watch