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Ani Arzumanyan
Professor Makarosyan
English 114B
8 April 2016
Family Dynamics
When you hear the words traditional family you may think of a man and a woman,
their two children, and possibly a dog with a white picket fence around their home. However,
that is not the set picture for the traditional family anymore. People in society have reformed
their ways and have adapted to their own styles of living. The media has played a big role in
showing, us as a society, different types of families such as cohabitating ones, divorced, gay,
polygamist, and blended ones. Although the media tries to portray non-traditional families in a
positive way, people still may have negative views on them.
The assumed strengths of traditional families, said in the book Parenting and Child
Development in Nontraditional Families, are, "Family responsibilities should be divided between
the parents, with fathers as economic providers and mothers as homemakers and care takers,
mothers are better suited for childrearing and care taking than fathers are, and White middleclass parents have superior parenting skills and have children who are more likely to excel"
(Lamb 4). I personally believe that dividing the roles results in a smoother running household. I
think that no matter what the family dynamic, the roles of the Mom and Dad are quite
similar. There is a partnership with running the household and I agree with the fundamental roles
of a man and woman. As author, Gary Goshgarian says in The Contemporary Reader, only
24 percent of households are made of what many politicians refer to, as the traditional family

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of husband, wife, and children (Goshgarian 392). The definition of the word family is a group
consisting of parents and children living together in a household. That doesn't necessarily mean
parents have to be a straight couple or even married. Many families in the spotlight consist of
"traditional" families and non-traditional families. For instance, Channing Tatum and Jenna
Dewan, who are husband and wife. As well as Neil Patrick Harris and his partner David Burtka
who are husband and husband, or wife and wife like Ellen DeGeneres and her partner Portia de
Rossi. There are divorced families that co-parent, such as Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey. There
are cohabitating families like Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick. With gay marriage being
legal in all fifty states, now there are more households and families with same-sex couples, as
well as stepfamilies, single parent households, divorced families and much more. It seems as
though the media has become more open to the thought of showing different types of families
whether it is in television shows, movies, commercials, advertisements, or in entertainment
news.
There are many shows on television with every type of family you could think of. For
example, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974), Full House (1987-1995), Sister Sister (1994-1999),
Modern Family (2009-current) and so forth. The one television show that consists of almost all
types of families would have to be Modern Family. The characters, Jay, and his Latina wife,
Gloria, are raising two sons together. Jay's gay son, Mitchell, and his partner, Cameron, have
adopted a little Asian girl, completing one big straight, gay, multicultural, traditional happy
family. The success of this sitcoms comes from the real life portrayal that the average joe can
relate too. For example, in Full House, the children lose their mother at a very young age and
their father does not know how he is going to raise three girls all by himself. His best friend and

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brother-in-law step in and decide to offer him some assistance. No matter how hectic their life
gets, they take their days one step at a time and try to find the good in any situation that is thrown
at them. Although these television shows are fictional, they instill a few things about the meaning
of family. They relate to the viewers and even though they are scripted, they still take from every
day common experiences.
To illustrate an understanding of the acceptance of non-traditional families in the media,
Honey Maid put out a video on YouTube titled, Honey Maid Documentary: #NotBroken. In
the video, a little boy, named Isaac, opens a conversation about his special family. The video
begins with Isaac saying, Sometimes its hard to explain our family to people. He says that he
has two moms and two dads. Our initial reaction may be that he has two homosexual parents
who have found partners of the same sex, but as the video continues, we find out that his parents
are divorced and have both remarried. Isaac, who is a young boy, does not see anything wrong
with his family. He says, The difference between the two families is my step-dad has black hair
and my dad has brown hair. Thats one of the differences.. His father married another woman
who, herself, has two children, both being girls. They have become a blended family. Isaacs
step-mother continued to say, As long he just felt loved and never felt like he was being pulled
between two places, he would understand. Isaac supposed at first that there werent a lot of
families like his, but he then realized they are not so different. More than 40% of Americans are
part of a blended family. Even though both of his parents remarried, his step-parents try to make
Isaac feel as comfortable as possible. They never want him to think that a family like his is
abnormal or dysfunctional. Like his step-mother said, as long as he feels he is loved, he will
never feel neglected or torn between both families. This isn't the first time that Honey Maid has

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touched on sensitive issues. The This is Wholesome campaign has also visited other diverse
homes including interracial families and homosexual parents. After receiving backlash for their
open-minded ads, they created another advertisement that promoted a positive message with all
of the hate mail they have received. However, this spot had mixed reviews. Nearly all of the
feedback Honey Maid received was positive. People loved the idea and said that the campaign
showed how divorced families communicate and get along. Considering the fact that these shows
and advertisements have had mostly positive comments said about them, I would say that nontraditional family dynamics represented in the media are portrayed positively.
Society has opened up more to the thought of gay marriage and families throughout the
years. As of June 2015, gay marriage became legal in all fifty states. Despite of that, people are
still homophobic. There has been fear that children raised in gay or lesbian households will
grow up to be homosexual, develop improper sex- role behavior or sexual conflicts, and may be
sexually abused" (Children of Gay or Lesbian Parents). However, these fears have not been
provided by research. "Pediatricians can facilitate the healthcare and development of these
children by being aware of these and their own attitudes... and by being a resource and an
advocate for children who have homosexual parents (Children of Gay or Lesbian Parents).
Jillian Michaels, a personal trainer and television personality, and her partner, Heidi Rhoades, a
talent manager, have two beautiful children. Their daughter, whom they have adopted, and their
son, whom Heidi gave birth to. They teach their children things that will help them throughout
their future. They teach them to stand up for themselves and to always do what they believe in.
Jillian and Heidi show their kids love and support every minute of every day. As a same-sex

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couple, they represent their family to the media in the best way possible to show viewers that
their family is just as normal as anyone elses.
Although most non-traditional families are accepted in the media, polygamy, however, is
a debatable one. Shows such as Sister Wives, Big Love, and My Five Wives receive mixed
responses from their audience. The goal of these shows is to give viewers a better understanding
of what polygamy is and how it works on a day-to-day basis. Audiences are, first, introduced to
the husband, the wives, and then their many children. Then, we are told about how each
relationship works with the husband and how the husband and the wives work together as a unit.
Polygamist families are given a lot of backlash because of their lifestyle. People do not agree
with how they live because to them, it is out of the norm. The public has a strange obsession
with polygamist families and the reasoning behind their traditional family. As said in the book,
Polygamy in Primetime: Media, Gender, and Politics in Mormon Fundamentalism, "...people are
drawn to its exoticism" (Bennion 163). I, myself, have been curious about Mormon families and
their dynamics. The way they function and cohabit is a way I personally will never understand.
The strange curiosity about polygamists will always be there because that dynamic is not your
typical role model family.
Over all, it may be said that we as a society have been more accepting to the idea of nontraditional families portrayed in the media. We have advanced in our thought processes against
what the norm is. What might be normal for my family, might be considered abnormal for the
other family. As with a lot of things, we need to learn to accept that everyone functions in their
own way, whether we agree with it or not. The bottom line of all family values are the same, no
matter what the dynamic is.

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Works Cited
Goshgarian, Gary. The Contemporary Reader. Longman. 2012. Paperback.
Gold MA, Perrin EC, Futterman D, Friedman SB. Children of Gay or Lesbian Parents. n.d.
31 March 2016.
Honey Maid Documentary: #NotBroken. 7 September 2014. <https://youtu.be/5X592lJJnM>.
31 March 2016.
Janet Bennion. Polygamy in Primetime: Media, Gender, and Politics in Mormon
Fundamentalism. UPNE, 2012. Page 163. 31 March 2016.
Michael E. Lamb. Parenting and Child Development in Nontraditional Families. Psychology
Press, 1 October 1998. Page 4. 31 March 2016.