Get a CLUE About Singlism! Sometimes People Do

When it comes to discrimination against single people (singlism), there are so many people who so need to get a clue! They include journalists, social scientists, educators, political leaders, employers, marketers, health care professionals, and many of our friends, family, and acquaintances. They all could use some education and enlightenment about the misperceptions and unfair treatment of singles.

A newly-formed group, CLUE: “The Communication League for Unmarried Equality,” is committed to spreading the word. We plan to organize a series of educational campaigns on specific topics. We hope these campaigns will eventually lead to social action and social justice. Eventually, maybe we will finally have our Singles Movement.

CLUE just launched the first “Get-a-CLUE” campaign. Yesterday, April 15, was tax day in the U.S., and so we focused this time on economic discrimination. Below is a list of dozens of posts contributed by the bloggers who participated in this event. (They are listed alphabetically, by name of the blog; I included the blogger’s name if it was included in the post or if a CLUE organizer added the name. If you are a blogger and want me to add your name, just let me know.)

Take a look at their fine work. As we had hoped, everyone pointed to ways in which single people pay more than their fair share, and then added their own insights. Rachel, for example, came up with the clever idea of calculating how much longer a single person would have to work in order to cover the added cost of single (compared to married) life. Spinster Jane reminded us of the ways in which the people who are most important to us do not have the same status in the law as spouses do. Kelly Seal told a personal story of the housing discrimination she experienced as a single person. And…well, read them for yourself!

If you like what the various Get-a-CLUE bloggers had to say, give them your “Like” or spread the word in your own way.

We know we must have missed many bloggers who may want to participate in at least some of our Get-a-CLUE campaigns. We welcome all of you! Just get in touch with one of the organizers (see the list is at the end of this post). If you don’t want to blog, but do want to get advance notice of our campaigns so you can spread the word on Twitter or elsewhere, we want you, too!

Get-a-CLUE participants in our first campaign:

• Dating Senior Men: “Being single will cost you”
• Diva of Dating, Walker AKA The Diva: “Who knew there was a penalty for being single!”
• Funky Brown Chick, Twanna Hines: “Marriage equality is (somewhat) the wrong equation”
• Hollywood Spinster: “Sex & the single room supplement”
• Huffington Post, Eleanore Wells: “Singles: Paying more taxes and other annoyances”
• Living Single, Bella DePaulo: “If you are single, every day is tax day: 19 examples” (also published at the Huffington Post)
• MirletaLiz Living Out Loud, Liz Hiles: “Today…I blog for a cause”
• My Pixie Blog, Charlotte Klein: “Is there such a thing as marital status discrimination?”
• Onely, Christina Campbell and Lisa A.: “Single? Blogfest explains how to get screwed 1,000 times!”
• Open Salon, Eleanore Wells: “When your government discriminates”

• Quirkyalone: posted links to other #SinglesBlogfest articles on her Facebook page

• Rachel’s Musings: “Taxing singles”
• Say Waugh, Simone Waugh : “Happy you get shafted on taxes because you’re single day!”
• Single and Happy Online, Tyjuana Wilson: “Blog talk radio, This needs to be said”
• Single at Heart, Bella DePaulo: “Why we need consciousness-raising about singles: New York Times edition” (Also: “Nearing retirement and nearly broke? Economic discrimination against singles adds up”)

• Single Childfree Me (aka Singularly Happy), Rhona: “Singles Blogfest: Inequality for Singles”

• Single. Sassy. Smart. Sophisticated? “Single supplements = unmarried inequality”
• Single Minded Women: “Calling all single woman bloggers” [Note from Bella: We welcome men, too, to this Blogfest and all future CLUE events!]
• Singular Magazine, Kim Calvert: “How single people get screwed”
• Spinsterlicious Life, Eleanore Wells: “Single: Paying more taxes and other annoyances”
• Spinster Jane, “Will you be my next of kin?”
• Spinster’s Compass: “Spinster”
• SWaNK Evolution, Carolyn Quan: “It’s tax day and singles are getting ripped off across the good ole U S of A”
• Unmarried Equality, Cindy Butler: “Living single comes at a HIGH price”
• Urban Dater, “Tax Day aka ranch me up and call me spanky day”
• With or Without a Man, Dr. Karen Gail Lewis: “April 15, tax day, single women!”
• Yahoo! Shine, Beth Greenfield: “Single in America? That’ll cost you”
• Your Tango, Eleanore Wells: “It’s #SinglesBlogfest on tax day!”

• I Have A Degree In This, Kimberlee Van Der Wall: On tax day, don't forget the singles

• Notes From The Dating Trenches, Kelly Seal: “On April 15, are you paying more for being single? Yep.”

• SWANN (Single Working Women's Affiliate Network), Barbara Payne: Tax day is a good day to holler about fairness to singles

Because April 15, 2013 turned out to be the tragic day of the Boston Marathon bombing, our hashtags, #unmarriedequality and #SinglesBlogfest, did not trend as much as we had hoped. Of course, we are all sending our best to those victimized by the horrible events.

Do you have a suggestion for a theme for a Get-a-CLUE campaign? If so, add it to the Comments section or send it to one of the CLUE organizers.

The CLUE organizers are Cindy Butler of Unmarried Equality, Lisa A. and Christina Campbell of Onely, Eleanore Wells of The Spinsterlicious Life, and I (my website is BellaDePaulo.com). Thank-you Cindy, Lisa A., Christina, and Eleanore!