Reader Buzz: Unmarried Women

Reader Buzz: Unmarried Women

January 16th, 2007 @ 5:31 pm by Reader Buzz
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Mrs. Bee here.

The New York Times had an interesting article today titled 51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse.

For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one, according to a New York Times analysis of census results.

��‚��”This is yet another of the inexorable signs that there is no going back to a world where we can assume that marriage is the main institution that organizes people’s lives,��‚�? said Prof. Stephanie Coontz, director of public education for the Council on Contemporary Families, a nonprofit research group. ��‚��”Most of these women will marry, or have married. But on average, Americans now spend half their adult lives outside marriage.��‚�?

How important is to you to be married? Can you or did you ever imagine yourself never marrying?

Tags: Features, post-wedding |

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12 Responses to “Reader Buzz: Unmarried Women”

Guest

Miss. Orange

I’ve been told that I am the “marrying” type….though I have no idea what that “type” is.

1/16/07 @ 5:35 pm (reply)

Guest

Jessica

Growing up I imagined having a cute house, doing the grocery shopping and house keeping, but I never really imagined being married. I don’t know if it was tied in to self esteem issues or what, but I never figured I’d really get married. But I’m glad that I found the guy for me and that we got married.

1/16/07 @ 5:40 pm (reply)

Guest

MCRBride

There’s so much pressure on people to get married, I think this is good to see–that people are going against the trend.

My dad has been happily unmarried for over 20 years.

1/16/07 @ 5:44 pm (reply)

Guest

Bebe

I never thought I WOULD get married before I met FI - the thought of being married to any of the guys I knew/dated, no matter how great they were, just made me feel suffocated. The feeling of actually wanting to spend my life with this particular person came as a total shock to me!

1/16/07 @ 5:51 pm (reply)

Guest

Tea

i’ve always figured i would get married. then there was that stretch in life when i thought i’d never get married since i kept dating duds…or not finding guys to date. wow, that sounded desperate. but overall, i never felt any pressure to get married. i just knew that i wanted that life.

1/16/07 @ 6:04 pm (reply)

Guest

I have been with my fi for 10.5 years, living together 6.5 years. Because of the dynamics of today’s society, this was okay. We didn’t feel like we had to rush and get married young to be together. Instead, we have been able to grow, get our feet solidly under us, and are now ready to take on marriage with a completely different outlook than we would have had at 22. Most likely a more realistic outlook.

1/16/07 @ 6:14 pm (reply)

Guest

ocicats

I never saw myself as the marrying type although others did. How time changes everything.. Now I consider myself a traditionalist who wants to be married with a family.

1/16/07 @ 6:22 pm (reply)

Guest

MCRBride

I’m similar to you HC, with fiance for almost 10 years living together for 5.
Concur with you on the outlook.

1/16/07 @ 6:58 pm (reply)

Guest

fizzyg

I’m with Jessica…I pictured myself having a house and a nice little life, and in those mental pictures there wasn’t really a man in them. There wasn’t deliberately *not* a man there either, these were my plans, and if someone came along they could join in if they wanted (and they did).

1/16/07 @ 8:09 pm (reply)

10.

Guest

Pencils

I’m forty years old and never married. I think that answers part of the question! I’ve spent nearly half my life single. Seriously, I never thought about it too much. I was someone who thought I’d get married when I found someone worthy of marrying. “Marriage” was not the goal, finding the partner was. Then I found him, and realized I wanted to get married. A lot. To me, marriage is the ultimate commitment–you can make the commitment, but it doesn’t mean as much unless everyone knows it, and the only way to do that is through marriage. So here we are, planning a small and tasteful wedding. It’s too bad, though, I was just beginning to really enjoy the term “spinster” and using “Miss” instead of Ms.

1/16/07 @ 9:05 pm (reply)

11.

Guest

ms. mouse

I always pictured myself as a blue-haired lady with too many cats, but at age 30. Mr Mouse says he always knew I was the kind to get married, but was surprised that I turned out to be mushy.

1/17/07 @ 12:52 am (reply)

12.

Guest

Iris

WAIT A MINUTE! Wouldn’t this line be better titled “single women” since “unmarried women” implies that singles/divorced/widowed are somehow lacking or deviating from some “normal” status of being “married”?

You never hear “unmarried men.”

1/17/07 @ 7:12 pm (reply)