NBC's "The Today Show" http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/44857571#44857571 featured an interview by anchor Ann Curry with author Kate Bolick on her latest article "All The Single Ladies" in "The Atlantic." http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/11/all-the-single-ladies/8654/?single_page=true
Ann and Kate discussed the provocative demographic reality of increasing single women among a decrease in marriageable men. NBC correspondent Jenna Wolfe began the piece by noting, "A new report says women are choosing to be single and loving every minute of it."
Because of the early 20th Century Suffragette Movement leading to the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing women the right to vote, employment of women in industry during World War II and the Feminist Movement of the 1960s leading to a rise of women graduating from high school, attending universities and becoming equal in the work place, the modern educated working woman of the 2010s no longer economically needs a man. Like the heroic single professional woman character in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" a generation ago, "she's going to make it after all" with a beautiful apartment, a fulfilling career and fun friends... on her own. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBTWF1bDPn0
It was interesting that Kate Bolick promoted the controversial concept of "hypergamy" during the "Today Show" feature. Writer Eric S. Raymond defined it as women wanting "to marry men who are bigger, stronger, higher-status, a bit older, and a bit brighter than they are." For instance, if a woman dropped out of high school and became a professional waitress at a truck stop or diner, her pool of eligible "hypergamic"men is very large- any guy who made it out of high school or even a dropout who has a steady job and a lower middle class income would be a step up. Raymond noted that as women rise in educational level and resulting economic status, their pool of available men that are "superior" to them would naturally shrink. Thus a woman who graduated from medical school would have much fewer men in her pool than a nurse, who would tend to marry a high achieving fellow nurse or a higher status physician. http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=3768
Kate Bolick observed that "As women have climbed ever higher [in the workplace],men have been falling behind. So instead of marrying down, women choose to be single and successful." This reinforces Eric S. Raymond's idea that sexual equality results in the unfortunate result: an unstable society for family formation. As venerable NBC Anchorman Tom Brokaw's single daughter, therapist Sarah Brokaw, says in the Today Show interview,"I have not been married, and I don't have any kids, and I sit back and think: 'Well, what have I really accomplished if I haven't reached those traditional milestones?' And the way that I look at being accomplished is to have a real sense of curiousity about life." Screenwriter Maria Maggenti concurred, exclaiming,"I'm single. I'm happy. My life is filled with love, and friends, and- and family, and- good work that I love." Women will be happy, but will America eventually suffer demographic decline as more patriachal cultures that have greater reproductive success increase?
Kate Bolick concluded the "Today Show" segment by noting, "It's time to embrace new ideas about romance and family- and to acknowledge the end of 'traditional' marriage as society's highest ideal." Radical ideas indeed!
