Family Systems

As I was reading Berger's section of the chapter that dealt with family systems, I could not help but relate it to an episode of a long running, often crude television program: South Park. While it is easy to write off this show as just being gross, it often contains imperative social commentary. During one episode the class of fourth graders are divided up into groups of two to each care for an egg to symbolize a child. If the egg breaks, then the group would fail. All of the children are in male-female groups until two boys are left and they are put together as a gay couple. The teacher predicts- and is very adamant in this prediction- that the same-sex "family" would fail and break the egg; however, much to his chagrin, the same-sex family is the only group to complete the challenge with an intact egg.

Here, I believe the creators of South Park were trying to get across that there really is not much data on whether same-sex couples (especially two men) raising a child has any negative effect on the child. The assumption should not be made that just because there is not a man and a woman that the child will be irrevocably damaged.

In the text, Berger notes the lack of research on this topic, especially in the realm of gay men, because lesbian couples were able to adopt children much more easily than men (Berger, 2011). It seems that people make assumptions that just because a family is different than the nuclear family, that it is deficient. We need to keep open minds and accept that two men and two women can make just as good parents as their heterosexual counterparts.

References:

Berger, Kathleen. (2011). The Developing Person Through the Life Span. New York, NY : Worth Publishers.