Glamorized Divorce Amid Fertility Decline

Elite media now cast midlife divorce as emancipation and sexual rediscovery for professional‑class women while marriage and birth rates sit near record lows. Treating exit as empowerment may normalize dissolution costs away—on children, spouses, and social capital—just as younger cohorts de‑prioritize family. The cultural script could further depress marriage formation and durability. — If cultural narratives valorize divorce during a demographic slump, they can influence norms and policy debates around marriage, family stability, and pronatal efforts.