FLORIDA, October 20, 2012 - All too often, people mistake fiction for fact. Considering that we live in an era where the lines between entertainment and information have been blurred almost beyond comprehension, this becomes an indescribably challenging problem.

We also live in an era of delayed marriage or, in many cases, no marriage at all. More people than ever before are choosing to cohabit or remain single. The once marginalized childless trend is gaining popularity as well.

FLORIDA, October 19, 2012 -The American family can only be described as a work in progress.

The times are changing very quickly, which has resulted in the traditional family unit being questioned. In some cases, old ideas are undergoing adaptation to our society’s emerging social norms.

Needless to say, this has left more than a few in a state of aggravation. Many of these people believe that America should return to a bygone era during which everything seemed to be a bit simpler.

Were things really ever this way, though?

This past weekend, the New York Times ran an op-ed by Stephanie Coontz in reaction to Hanna Rosin’s new book, The End of Men. Hanna responded earlier this week. Now it’s Coontz’s turn:

SCROLL through the titles and subtitles of recent books, and you will read that women have become "The Richer Sex," that "The Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys," and that we may even be seeing "The End of Men." Several of the authors of these books posit that we are on the verge of a "new majority of female breadwinners," where middle-class wives lord over their husbands while demoralized single men take refuge in perpetual adolescence.

(CNN) -- Here we go again. Just as in the 1980's, some conservative moralists and pundits are trying to blame America's current economic insecurity, joblessness and social inequality on the very people most victimized by these socioeconomic trends. Once again, they are telling us that people can make it if they just pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, keep their shoulders to the grindstone and cross their legs until marriage.

(CNN) -- The news that Yahoo knowingly chose a pregnant woman as its new CEO has rightly been heralded by working women and their allies as another hole in the glass ceiling. Marissa Mayer, until now a top executive at Google, reports that when she told Yahoo's board of directors that she and her husband are expecting their first child in October, no one expressed any second thoughts about hiring her. The lack of reaction "showed their evolved thinking," she said.

(CNN) -- The July/August cover story of the Atlantic, "Why Women Still Can't Have It All" by Anne-Marie Slaughter, has ignited a firestorm.

1. People don't value marriage the way they used to.

President Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage last week was certainly historic. But it was not a historical game changer.

When Philip Morris introduced Virginia Slims cigarettes for women back in 1968, their marketing slogan was "You've Come a Long Way, Baby." But by 1968 women had not really come very far. "Help wanted" ads were still segregated by sex, the average employed female college graduate earned less than the average male high school graduate, fewer than 3% of all attorneys were female, most states had "head and master" laws giving the husband the final say in the home, and no state counted marital rape as a crime.