All in the Family

The Broken Hearth: Reversing the Moral Collapse of the American Family, by William J. Bennett (Doubleday, 199 pp., $22.95)

WORDS shape thoughts as much as thoughts shape words, George Orwell maintained, and surely the phrase “single mother” proves his point. Unlike descriptive phrases like “unwed mother,” this new term erased the distinctions among widowed, divorced, unmarried, and even adoptive mothers—and thus obscured any sense of disapproval, responsibility, or shame. Advertisers were quick to target the “single mother” as a new demographic category, and baby showers for unmarried women became common. (“I ’d be happy to send a gift to the wedding,” a nervy friend of mine responded when asked to chip in for a pregnant coworker whose connection to the father remained vague.) Eventually, “single mother” even came to signify something of an achievement, regardless of how attained; according to a recent Gallup poll, 62 percent of people in their twenties now think it acceptable for a woman to have a child on her own.

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Carol Iannone

Carol Iannone writes on literature and culture.

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The Broken Hearth: Reversing the Moral Collapse of the American Family, by William J. Bennett (Doubleday, 199 pp., $22.95)

WORDS shape thoughts as much as thoughts shape words, George Orwell maintained, and surely the phrase “single mother” proves his point. Unlike descriptive phrases like “unwed mother,” this new term erased the distinctions among widowed, divorced, unmarried, and even adoptive mothers—and thus obscured any sense of disapproval, responsibility, or shame. Advertisers were quick to target the “single mother” as a new demographic category, and baby showers for unmarried women became common. (“I ’d be happy to send a gift to the wedding,” a nervy friend of mine responded when asked to chip in for a pregnant coworker whose connection to the father remained vague.) Eventually, “single mother” even came to signify something of an achievement, regardless of how attained; according to a recent Gallup poll, 62 percent of people in their twenties now think it acceptable for a woman to have a child on her own.