Political rhetoric, a term especially but not (unfortunately) exclusively associated with conservatives. The term elevates models of the middleclass, two-parent monogamous heterosexual family as mores for all social issues, without recognizing the multiplicity of family forms, roles and challenges that constitute contemporary American society. Many conservatives have claimed that the lack of family values results in homosexuality singleparent families, teenage pregnancy drug abuse, sexual abuse and domestic violence. Still, given the emotional and ideological appeal of the family it becomes a particularly divisive way of phrasing issues, especially when touted by white men with unstable marriages.