The term “marriage strike” has gained some currency in recent years. Any good strike needs a specific set of demands. After some consideration I’ve come up with the below list of demands. I’d appreciate any suggestions for improvements. I know some points could be a little more specific, like #7. Maybe this can serve as a basis for an actual marriage strike movement. Although naturally every jurisdiction and individual will have their differences, I’ve tried to make this fairly inclusive while not drifting too much into other men’s rights issues that aren’t directly related to marriage.
- Abolition of common law marriage or any other quasi-marriage arrangements which are entered into automatically or involuntarily.
- Equal access to marriage for all regardless of sex or gender.
- Retention or instatement of adultery as a ground for divorce.
- Abolition of all laws, regulations, and policies relating to abuse which discriminate on the basis of gender or sex.
- Felony charges for demonstrably false accusations of abuse.
- Organizations which openly espouse or advocate gender- or sex-biased views or policies barred from government funding.
- Remove incentives for judges and attorneys to draw out divorce proceedings.
- Auditing of judges for gender- or sex-based discrimination in rulings with consequences up to disbarment.
- Abolition of the “duress” exemption for prenuptial agreements.
- Abolition of alimony (maintenance).
- Presumed 50/50 custody unless one divorcing partner can be verified as abusive or incompetent.
- Property gained by divorcing partners prior to marriage, or its equivalent, devolves to original owner. Presumed 50/50 split of property gained after marriage.
- Right to abortion on demand up to the 20th week of pregnancy.
- Right to relinquish all parental rights and responsibilities up to the signing of birth certificate.
- Right to a paternity test on demand at any point prior to the signing of birth certificate.
- Prohibition of adding a parent’s name to a birth certificate without informed consent, except in cases of mental incompetence.
- Right to be informed of the birth of biological children.
- Felony charges for paternity fraud.
- Recognition of parental alienation as a form of child abuse.
Pretty good!
Number 14 is a bit excessive. If you make a decision together with someone to have a child, you shouldn’t have the ability to back down when it’s too late to abort.
17 on the other hand doesn’t go far enough in my opinion.There should be a right to be informed of a pregnancy before the abortion delay is up.
Finally, there should be something about neutrality of child related services (social services, psych evalutaio experts…). They are overwhelimingly female, and in my experiences extremely biased.
About allegations and alienation: allgations of abuse are the nuclear weapon of parental alienation because of the necessary protection of children. If one parent is suspected of abuse, the child should rightfully be protected while light is made on the affair. That means a child cut off from the accused parent, znd left alone with the allegator. However, parental alienation being abuse, whenever such an accusation is made, the child should be protected as a precaution from both parents, since one is a potential abuser in whatever way was alleged, and the other being a potential abuser as the allgations may be false, and therefore alienation.
This would necessitate faster, more diligent proceedings and stronger, better funded child protection services, but that’s already much needed anyway.
Good point about the bias in family services. I wonder what could be done in terms of policy, aside from offering scholarships for men to get degrees in social work.
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