At this party, they play games like throwing the wedding ring into the toilet, as well as with voodoo doll figurines of the former husband.
Of particular note, the report made no mention of ex-husbands having such parties. Quite the contrary, the only person in this piece who wasn't celebrating was a divorced man: "I don't find anything about divorce to be funny at all. I find the whole experience rather tragic."
What follows is a full transcript of this report.
Canning: With nearly half of all marriages ending before "Till death do us part," divorce has gone from a private shame to a peculiar rite of passage. This bonding ritual was immortalized in "The First Wives Club."
Movie Clip: First Wives Club will come to order.
Canning: A long way from Hollywood. In parts of the Muslim world where breaking up is a disgrace, divorce parties allow a woman to quickly redeem herself. In Morocco single men are invited to the celebration and bring the woman perfume, money or even camels. The party can last for up to three days or as long as it takes for her to find a new companion. We may not have the camels, but American businesses are cashing in. Plumparty.Com sells all the fixes for a great bash and Tookeverything.Com offers a gift registry and thousands of copies of "How to throw a divorce or break-up party" have been sold. But this doesn't put everyone in the party mood. Some divorcees believe the end of a sacred union weighs too heavy on the heart.
Divorced man: I don't find anything about divorce to be funny at all. I find the whole experience rather tragic.
Canning: But marriage therapist Helen Rudinski says there can be a right time to celebrate.
Rudinski: You're not grieving. You're not pining over the relationship. You wish them well. It didn't work out. You're looking forward.
Divorced woman: It's a different kind of party. It's kind of like a New Year's Eve celebration but it's a new life's eve celebration.
Crowd: Happy divorce day dear Madeline
Canning: For Madeline, clearly that time is now.
