Part 1 of Link: All the Single Ladies
The Atlantic article: All the Single Ladies
Here’s my favorite line from the article. Analyzing, as she is, the major changes occurring to the American family and modern marriage, Bolick points out why this is such an issue right here and now:
“But real change can seldom take hold when economic forces remain static. The extraordinary economic flux we’re in is what makes this current moment so distinctive.”
That’s it, folks. We’re in one of Those Times. You know those great crises of change in history, like the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, the colonization of America, the rise of Christianity, the rise of Islam, the unification of Italy, the birth of modern economics (eg: The Great Depression)?
All of these moments are romanticized in our minds and our public libraries, but truth be stated: they were miserable periods for most of the people involved.
This is our fate–this is the revolutionary moment in history that we’ve drawn. So, some aspects of our life may seem miserable. But just think of our future! When this revolution is completed and the New American Household is established, we will be romanticized in novels, documented in history books, expounded upon in college courses.
We’ll be famous!
Who knows? Maybe they’ll even read BadforShidduchim as a primary source documentation from this period. If you want to be quoted in history, comment below!
Bad for Shidduchim 
Way ahead of you. I’ve already been working on a letter to my local congressperson suggesting further changes to what america considers family- after all, if I’m living on something likeyour spinster colony and I fall ill, I want my fellow spinsters to be able to say that they’re taking off work for family reasons. Not to mention tax benefits and all of that legal stuff. If my friends and I live together for 25 years, we’re family in a very real way.
I assume you and your readers are too young to remember the show “Kate & Allie”.
I finished plodding through the article – it is a long one – and there are so many interesting points. Like how when the quantity of women go up, the quality of men go down, whereas a surplus of men leads to the respect of women but a lack of their presence outside the home. And how the invention of the “free” college campus has degraded the quality of relationships to beer-befuddlement rather than sweet independence.
As for the spinster colony, it would need some modification to ensure . Except I have never gotten along well with girls. Unless they are over 50. The Mosuo people, by the way, aren’t doing so well; they were featured on the news years ago, and it seems their quality of life has been reduced to a tourist attraction.
But a trend amongst modern women, which Bolick admits to, is walking away from perfectly viable relationships simply because she doesn’t want to marry yet. And there will always be more men available when she changes her mind. Her viewpoint is that of ordering a relationship of the menu when she gets peckish, and life certainly does not work out that way.
I’m not sure if we are on the cusp of a new age. As the Mosuo and Begijnhof prove, everything has been tried and done. But females are left with both more choices and less choices.
For Real – I agree with you. Although if you want the tax breaks and so on, you could always go in for a civil marriage. We can position our spinster colony in a state with no-fault divorce laws, just in case someone accidentally finds a guy to hitch wagons with.
Princess – there are plenty of us who don’t want men strictly when we can fit them in. We’re not doing so much better.
Don’t want men strictly where we can fit them in because we want to have the sun in our hair, or can’t fit them in because of unappealing personality?
Haven’t seen the sun for several days… I might be willing to swap a man for the sun, now that you mention it. But unappealing personality?
Since when it is bad to not marry a guy you don’t like?
I got a little confused. It’s just we are programmed to emotionally tackle any man who glances our way so we don’t end up as spinsters, so I’m wondering how many of us turn down potential mates for a footloose lifestyle.
Although, I will admit: when I was 21 I had my first good date, and when he said no I was happy because I had just moved and I was happy where I was and I wanted more time to experience it.
I’m thinking that we should have a NYC location on staten island, with our base at some cheaper state with no-fault. If members get past a certain age and just want kids without a husband, they may have to move somewhere with a school, but they should still be part of the Spinster Sisterhood.
Cuz, hellllo, with so many girls not getting married, it’s only logical to have a backup plan if I don’t get married.
For Real
Haha. I love your pointing out of the great Times in History. I don’t think they all were negative, though.