Actress Cameron Diaz: Marriage a 'Dying Institution' That Doesn't 'Suit Our World'

May 25th, 2011 2:33 PM

It's interesting to remind ourselves from time to time which social institutions the fixtures of our culture's commanding heights consider dated or irrelevant. If you need more affirmation of the wide, wide chasm between American culture and American pop culture, Cameron Diaz is here to convince you.

The actress recently informed Maxim magazine that marriage is dying, is no longer relevant in the 21st century, and is all, you know, old and stuff. Check out an preview of Diaz's Maxim interview below the break (h/t David Harsanyi).

Cameron Diaz is definitely a catch, but don’t try to marry her: the 38-year-old actress tells Maxim magazine that she indeed finds marriage to be a “dying institution.”

“I think we have to make our own rules,” she says. “I don’t think we should live our lives in relationships based off of old traditions that don’t suit our world any longer.”

Interestingly, the cultural institutions that hallmarks of our popular culture tend to deride as outdated are often cherished by wide swaths of the American community. Likewise, fixtures of American political culture - say, the Constitution - are often ridiculed as irrelevant and outdated by leaders of the political commentariat. I'm seeing a trend here.

As for Diaz, she also had this bit of relationship advice for Maxim readers:

“I love men more than anything. I want all men to be happy and have rad women in their lives,” Diaz says. “But guys need women who challenge them and don’t let them get away with their s-. Women, conversely, need to not be crazy b-– who blow up when their guys tell them something that scares them.”

How enlightening.