Never married:
Shows like Entertainment Tonight always give us the love story or triangles of famous people, this week it is Sandra Bullock and her ‘wandering husband’. The last case of infidelity was Tiger Woods. The media favors romance, love and relationships, infidelity, possible affairs and anything related to love and sex. I personally, never heard of so many people going to therapy for sex addiction. I guess sex addiction is the new ‘out’ for infidelity, after all how can you hold it against a person if they are ‘sick’.
The media also is responsible for contributing to an unmarried woman creating a stigma. For instance, George Clooney is an eligible bachelor but you don’t usually hear of an eligible bachelorette, in a positive light. (Except for the reality show).
Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush are constantly being taunted as to when they will marry. Jennifer Aniston and any new love interest that she may have is always scrutinized wondering if it will lead to marriage.
This stigma is not just attached to the famous unmarried woman; it is attached to the ‘regular person’. Then again, if the populations of women base their own personal stories on these famous women, they too, will want what they have.
I applaud the woman who does not marry because she chooses not to. Better that than to be in a situation that could be unfavorable. Normally, when I find research relevant to a topic I will pick and choose parts of it to cut and paste. In this case, the research is to be published in the ‘Journal of Family Issues’ and I really feel that it is important to include the entire script. The article reinforces the perception that people have if a woman is not married over a certain age, this seems to hold true for the ‘regular person’ and the starlet.
{Science News
Never-Married Women Face Social Stigma, Researchers Find
ScienceDaily (Mar. 23, 2010) — In 2009, approximately 40 percent of adults were single, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In a new study a University of Missouri researcher examined the familial and societal messages given to women who are not married by their mid-30’s. Although the number of single women has increased, the stigma associated with being single at that age has not diminished, according to the women in this study.
“We found that never-married women’s social environments are characterized by pressure to conform to the conventional life pathway,” said Larry Ganong, co-chair of Human Development and Family Studies in the College of Human Environmental Sciences. “This pressure was manifested in women feeling highly visible and invisible. Heightened visibility came from feelings of exposure and invisibility came from assumptions made by others.”
Ganong and Elizabeth Sharp, associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Texas Tech University, conducted 32 interviews with middle-class, never-married women who felt that considerable attention was directed at them because of their age and single status. They felt heightened visibility in situations such as bouquet tosses at weddings. These events brought about unwanted, intrusive questions. Feeling invisible, on the other hand, was likely when others made assumptions that they were married and had children or when they had to justify their singlehood. These interactions made them feel that their actual lives weren’t important or went unnoticed.
Specifically, single women’s social worlds include:
Awareness of shifting reality as they become older; for example, the shrinking pool of eligible men and increased pregnancy risks.
Reminders that they are on different life paths than most women when others inquire about their single status and during events, including social gatherings and weddings.
Feelings of insecurity and displacement in their families of origin when parents and siblings remark about their singlehood and make jokes or rude comments.
The visibility and invisibility factors were impacted by age, according to Ganong. The mid-20’s through mid-30’s is a time of intense contemplation and concern for single women regarding their future family trajectories. Women older than 35 tend to be content with being single and don’t express as much dissatisfaction as do younger women. Women ages 25-35 felt the most stigma, which may be attributed to the fact that being single is more acceptable before age 25. After reaching that age, they feel more scrutinized by friends, family members and others.
“Mainstream media also enforce these ideas,” Ganong said. “For example, shows like ‘Sex and the City,’ which portray female protagonists who are hyper-focused on finding men, and end with the majority of those characters getting married, are popular.”
Ganong has a joint appointment in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. The study will be published in the Journal of Family Issues.}
Citation:
University of Missouri-Columbia. “Never-Married Women Face Social Stigma, Researchers Find.” ScienceDaily 23 March 2010. 23 March 2010 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100323110057.htm.
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