Divorce Announcements Growing Trend

Samantha Louis — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 10:15:00 -0400

Picture yourself waking up to hot coffee, half a grapefruit, and the Sunday Times. You thumb your way to the back of the Style section, and find "Divorce" — a new section adjacent to "Weddings & Celebrations" profiling newly divorced couples and their reemergence on the singles market.

Seems a bit odd, but it could happen sooner than you think. Filed under "Field Notes," the Weddings & Celebrations section recently profiled a newly divorced 35-year-old Atlanta man named Dominic Thomas.

Apparently Thomas, who emailed an announcement of his divorce to 100 people this summer, represents a growing trend. Also this summer, Robert Olen Butler, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and a professor at Florida State University, made headlines when his breakup announcement made it into the press.

In Thomas' two-and-a-half page message, he expresses his appreciation for the emotional support he received from friends and family during the custody battle over his son, among other things. By writing his announcement, Thomas said he was "reclaiming" his life. "I don't want it to be a taboo subject."

Andrew Cherlin, a sociologist who specializes in the study of American families at Johns Hopkins University, tells the Times how divorce announcements would have been unthinkable two generations ago.

"It would have been like announcing an out-of-wedlock pregnancy," he says. "The fact that people aren't embarrassed to send out a divorce announcement tells you how routinized divorce has become."

The practice of divorce announcements can be a risky one, mind you. As the Times notes, the latest edition of Emily Post's Etiquette warns that "announcements can backfire, making the celebrant appear cold-hearted and insensitive."

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Divorce Announcements Growing Trend