Singled Out: How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After
Language: English
Pages: 336
ISBN: 0312340826
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
"Singled Out debunks myths and stereotypes about single people and lays the groundwork for social, political, and economic change."
-- Thomas F. Coleman, Executive Director, Unmarried America
Drawing from decades of scientific research and stacks of stories from the front lines of singlehood, Bella DePaulo debunks the myths of singledom---and shows that just about everything you've heard about the benefits of getting married and the perils of staying single are grossly exaggerated or just plain wrong. Although singles are singled out for unfair treatment by the workplace, the marketplace, and the federal tax structure, they are not simply victims of this singlism--single people really are living happily ever after.
Singled Out Debunks Ten Myths of Singlehood, Including:
-Myth--The Dark Aura of Singlehood: You are miserable and lonely and your life is tragic.
-Myth--Attention, Single Women: Your work won't love you back and your eggs will dry up. Also, you don't get any and you're promiscuous.
-Myth--Attention, Single Men: You are horny, slovenly, and irresponsible, and you are the scary criminals. Or you are sexy, fastidious, frivolous, and gay.
"Elegant analysis, wonderfully detailed examples, and clear and witty prose…A must-read for all single adults, their friends and families, as well as social scientists and policy advocates."
--E. Kay Trimberger, author of The New Single Woman
"The singles movement is coming to a bookstore near you."
--Associated Press
"Fascinating . .this book could hardly have come at a better time. As much as societal adulation of the couple discriminates against single people, Singled Out suggests that it can also undermine marriage."
--The Christian Science Monitor
their pages much more often than I mock the prejudices printed in places like People. When singlism lurks along the entire spectrum of arts, literature, science, and entertainment, we are not talking about an isolated blind spot but a deep, dark cultural black hole. The prevailing view of single people is straightforward. They are missing out on the one truly important peer relationship—the one that makes people whole and happy and their lives meaningful and complete. Because that
of more than a century of anthropological research on households, kinship relationships, and families, across cultures and through time, provide no support whatsoever for the view that either civilization or viable social orders depend on marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution. Rather, anthropological research supports the conclusion that a vast array of family types, including families built upon same-sex partnerships, can contribute to stable and humane societies. I think that
them had a job offer? As one of the sisters noted with sly satisfaction, that sort of question would never have been asked if the person who had accompanied her across the country were a romantic partner she had known for just a few months. The mythology asks too little of us when it dismisses our passions and our talents and our commitment to anything but a spouse and the children we are raising with a spouse. I’ve described people whose lives are diminished like this as getting the singles
Edwards, “Flying Solo,” 48. 77 “obvious” choices Albrecht, Buying a Home, 7. 77 60 percent of single women were homeowners Edwards, “Flying Solo,” 48. 78 “If you are a single person” Orman, Road to Wealth, 133. 78 about two-thirds voted for Gore Website for Women’s Voices. Women Vote, www.wvwv.org. 78 new demographic was great fun DePaulo, “Single Voter.” 79 “Pretend it’s a hair appointment” Cho, “Nonvoting Bloc.” Conway also volunteered her explanation for why married women vote more often
the White House in modern presidential history. Filing from the Bush family ranch, USA Today reported on August 25 that President Bush, in grimy bluejeans and sweaty T-shirt, wielded his chain saw against a dead hackberry tree Saturday, determined to make his beloved ranch less “jungle-y” for a wife who had problems with the place at first. Later, the country would learn that while the president and his people were spending relaxed family time, high-level officials had been trying