How Many Single People Are Living In The United States?

I am glad you can find an obscure study or two that prove that other cultures are able to make the single parent model work, but the fact remains that all the studies done on Western families (especially American) have completely different results. A lot of this has to do with social mores in the West vs East and other factors, but the fact remains that in western society, children of single families almost always underperform in school and are far more prone to social problems and behavioral issues. This isn't sentimentality... this is proven fact that has been observed in countless studies. The figures regarding children who actually surpass their peers where both gender biological parents are present are DISMAL to say the least.

The opinion you have expressed is often stated in the media and by people with particular political perspectives. Before I did the research for Singled Out, I thought I might find results similar to those you have described. I read stacks of journal articles. I studied them very carefully – I did not just go by what the abstracts said or how someone else summarized the results. What I found, time and again, was that claims about the advantages for children of being raised in a household with two married biological parents rather than, say, a single mom, were grossly exaggerated, misrepresented, or just plain wrong. Please take a look at the chapter on single parents in my book, Singled Out. There I explain, in what I hope is a very clear way, what the studies really do show, and why they have so often been misrepresented.

I am a single mother of a one year old son (who has never once met his father), and a full time nursing student along with being a certified massage therapist with my own freelance practice. I am often offended by my friends' (and occassionally strangers') attempts to "hook me up" with men. Your blog really hits home with me because of this. It shocks me that people seem to think my son will benefit from me taking time away from him to search out a "surrogate daddy", when he is surrounded by positive male influences already (grandpas, uncles, and the like).
Another offending episode happened when I applied for state aid for help in daycare expenses. As a part of the application ("being a single mother," said the caseworker) it was required that I read a pamphlet about the benefits of marriage. I was highly discouraged by this for the same reasons stated before: the state would rather me spend time husband-hunting than devote time to my son, or to work/school to better his life as well as my own.
I really hope that the stand against singlism becomes more mainstream. You're right in that it's not as apparent as racism or sexism. Because of that fact it is even harder to take a stand against...the people who need to be stood up to are all married, it seems.