Exalting marriage as holy paradoxically raised the demand for divorce.

Evidence

This was the paradox of the moral attack on divorce: divorce was immoral because marriage was holy. But the holiness of marriage only increased the demand for divorce. It was divorce that paved the way, for many people, to a new and respectable status. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2879

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to the immodesty-adjacent moral-panic thread: how moral strictures on an institution generate their own workarounds and demand — parallels how sumptuary/decency objections fed policing industries.
• XREF: Connects to the dual-system law-on-books/law-in-action theme already tracked in earlier book_so_far highlights on divorce and fault-based collusive perjury. — connects to: Rising expectations from companionate marriage drove the demand for divorce — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 764; Romantic marriage ideology reframed love as a legal duty.

Broader Connections

• Romantic marriage ideology reframed love as a legal duty. #complicates (0.75)