On Tuesday, the Women's Studies Research Center sponsored an event titled "Intermarriage: How to Make a Family From Strangers," a lecture about the growing trend of intermarriage in this country.  

Ruth Nemzoff, a resident scholar at the WSRC, spoke about the difficulties of intermarriage and how many people overcome them.

According to Nemzoff, 27 percent of marriages in America are interfaith, and 15 percent are interracial. Only 20 percent of marriages were interfaith 50 years ago, and 30 years ago, only 6.7 percent of marriages were interracial.

Throughout the lecture, Nemzoff read excerpts from her books about family dynamics, Don't Bite Your Tongue and Don't Roll Your Eyes, shedding light on how the trend affects society.

One excerpt from Don't Roll Your Eyes, the book she wrote last year, discussed the idea that "every marriage is an intermarriage," meaning that two cultures of some sort confront each other in every marriage. "Two people mean two backgrounds, two upbringings and two family cultures-or maybe more," Nemzoff read aloud.

Nemzoff said that the differences involved with these marriages often cause difficulties.

Many individuals in intermarriages find trouble with their differences and face backlash from immediate family, Nemzoff said. "Only 62 percent of Muslim-Americans say intermarriage is acceptable and only 47 percent of American Jews say it is," she said.

According to Nemzoff, intermarriage rates are highest amongst Buddhists and Mainline Protestants, while intermarriage rates are lowest among Jews, Mormons and Hindus, which shows the different values in each culture.

When Nemzoff asked members of the audience that the difficulties of intermarriage, many people spoke about the comfort and security that comes with marrying within one's culture.

"Sometimes people who intermarry have to reject their own community," Nemzoff said.

Yet, she said, many couples overcome these difficulties, and she explained that everybody deals with intermarriage in a different way. She said that many people cope through blurring boundaries of cultures and focus on universal themes instead of individual customs.

"People are finding new ways of connecting by focusing on similarities instead of differences," she said. "In the end, every culture teaches the same values, and it's startling for some people."

Nemzoff said that the upward trend of intermarriage shows that people are still willing to deal with the difficulties.

She discussed how the notion of individualism and the freedom to choose plays into intermarriage. "Once you have individual choice, you are undermining the norms of society," she said. "Stereotypes are diminishing and people are meeting people of other cultures."

Nemzoff said that although intermarriage can be difficult, "it isn't always a means for disaster."

As the trends continue "there are going to be a lot of new institutions dismantling a lot of preconceived notions in the past," she said. "It's a huge trend in America. Every single group is intermarrying, and there are costs and benefits."

According to Nemzoff, "Thinking about intermarriage gives us a more nuanced view of the world. There are advantages and disadvantages, and it's definitely not black and white."