Women Being Single: The New Norm

And it’s not so bad. The Chicago Sun-Times is doing a series of articles this week on what it means to be a single woman these days. (I think it is in direct response to Justin’s recent posts against feminism.)

For centuries, American culture has sold us on the notion that what’s “normal” and standard is a household comprised of a married man and woman and their kids. But current reality is looking a lot different from the so-called nuclear family. Today, 48.5 percent of all U.S. households are headed by unmarried adults, a figure that has swelled from 41.3 percent 20 years ago, says the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2004 Current Population Survey. And more single-person households — nearly 29 million of them — now exist in the United States than the 24.1 million married households with kids under age 18.

Although some of these women agree that the picture of the “Leave It To Beaver” style household may be ideal, they have to live in reality. The State of . . . single women is well. They don’t get down just because they don’t have a man . . .yet. They continue with their careers and sometimes even choose to have kids. Just because they haven’t obtained the nuclear family doesn’t mean they have failed. I personally know of many great people who grew up outside of the ideal nuclear family. I also don’t think these articles are trying to push more women into remaining single or some other subversive agenda. I think they just show that there are so many more options you could have. And wasn’t that the agenda of feminism in the first place? So go ‘head girls. Be single. Be married. Be pregnant. Be Happy! (And a backrub every now and again still wouldn’t hurt.)