‘Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture’ By Naomi Cahn & June Carbone

In Red Families v. Blue Families Cahn and Carbone discuss ways in which political and ideological alignment affect and reflect a person’s views on family and family formation. Interestingly, the authors point out the fact that blue families, or liberal families, are more likely to be structured in the traditional family style, with both parents in the home. Red families, or more conservative families, are more likely to result from unplanned pregnancies and eventually lead to divorce. This seems counterintuitive because liberal individuals are usually more likely to support non-traditional family styles while conservatives are more concerned with a specific type of family structure. Several factors are discussed as contributing to this phenomenon, including birth control, sex education, abortion and gay marriage.

The book ends with several suggestions from the authors for reevaluating marriage and lowering the rate of unplanned pregnancies, especially to young mothers. Though the authors are for the most part very sensitive to both groups, their ideas for reform all seem to be more likely to appeal to blue families, families that don’t need to be convinced. Suggestions including reevaluating our definition of marriage, expanding contraception availability to both adults and minors and teaching sex education in a more comprehensive way are all things that are unlikely to appeal to conservative groups, despite the fact that these suggestions are aimed at achieving a goal that is important to them: promoting stable, two-parent households.