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	<title>Comments on: Are 47 Year Old Single Men Inherently Suspect?</title>
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		<title>By: Academic</title>
		<link>http://melissablogs.com/2008/07/14/are-47-year-old-single-men-inherently-suspect/comment-page-1/#comment-19393</link>
		<dc:creator>Academic</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Apr 2010 03:38:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melissaclouthier.com/?p=9401#comment-19393</guid>
		<description>I am a 47-year-old, heterosexual male who is saving himself for marriage.  Categories 1 and 5 seem to apply to me. Actually, Category 5 was somewhat a result of Category 1.  I was always socially awkward around girls/women.  Since I wouldn&#039;t admit my interest in girls/women to myself or to others until I was in college, I guess I would be classified a late-bloomer, assuming that I ever bloomed at all.  Therefore, I invest large amounts of time on my career and hobbies, and this compensates for my complete lack of romantic social life.  I can&#039;t get too depressed about my lack of love life if I spend all my time working.  
   I&#039;ve always been a bit of an introvert, but, as I get older, I find myself becoming more of a loner, more isolated.  On rare occasions, I feel bitterness about my state of existence. At those times, I just stay away form people altogether until I can get over it.
   I have never successfully initiated any form of relationship with a woman by myself.  I was rejected by all three women that I got the courage to ask out during my undergraduate and graduate college years.  The few dates that I did get (four or five maximum) were set up by third parties, either a friend or a couples introduction service (yes, I tried that!).  Neither source of blind date led to anything substantial.
   I&#039;m one of those types of men who simply cannot do any better than become a woman&#039;s &quot;friend&quot;.  I&#039;ve become convinced that no sane, non-desperate woman could possibly be romantically interested in me.  Over the years, I have acquired four close female platonic friends that I wouldn&#039;t trade for the world.  We live far from each other now, so visits are infrequent.  But we maintain contact by phone and greeting cards.  The longest and closest of these friendships has lasted twenty years, so I would reject any accusation of &quot;commitmentphobia&quot; (a vulgar, quickie-diagnostic term applied to men by women who really haven&#039;t taken any time to thoroughly understand the male side of relationship dynamics).  These few long-term platonic friends are the reason why I haven&#039;t completely given up on finding a romantic relationship -- yet.  
   When I asked these female friends for reasons explaining my lack of success, I got the same responses that I have read in books or articles on this matter -- &quot;too much of a &#039;nice guy&#039;&quot;, &quot;too passive&quot;, &quot;too self-restrained&quot;, &quot;too inexperienced&quot;, &quot;too set in your ways&quot;, &quot;too serious&quot;, &quot;too lacking in confidence&quot;, etc.  I can&#039;t make any sense of the &#039;nice guy&#039; or &#039;self-restraint&#039; criticisms; I always saw these as inherently desirable traits in people, as long as one doesn&#039;t go to the extent of being a &#039;doormat&#039; or &#039;stick in the mud&#039;.  And people seem to forget that, unless one is grandiose and lacking in humility, confidence is, for most people, a function of achieving successes in some endeavor.  It doesn&#039;t just come out of nowhere; I don&#039;t believe in the &quot;fake it till you make it&quot; philosophy.  Furthermore, confidence in one endeavor does not necessarily translate into confidence in all endeavors; I can functionally interact with attractive females at work, but then still be at a total loss with how to positively interact with women in a purely social setting, such as a club.
   One of the platonic female friends I mentioned before is actually an ex-girlfriend, the only one I ever had.  I was about 37 years old, and she was a considerably younger single mother.  We met at work.  It had been several years since the last time I was set up on a date.  But the friendship quickly escalated into a romance.  The romantic part of the relationship lasted for two years.  I was knocked off my feet by her initiation of the relationship.  I was honest with her about my lack of dating experience, but that didn&#039;t seem to bother her -- at lesat not initially.  This relationship did test my commitment to purity.  I am happy to say that I passed this test, but, unfortunately, my abstinence was an added problem to a relationship that was quickly starting to develop some cracks in it.  Without going into all of the details, the first year was pleasant most of the time, but the second year became disastrous, culminating in her dumping me.  She was just too young and impetuous to wait on me to get used to the situation, even though she was made aware of my lack of romantic experience.  After a very awkward transitional period, we were able to salvage a decent friendship out of a trainwreck attempt at romance.  After all these years, there are still unhealed emotional scars and unanswered questions about what could have saved the relationship, but I also have no interest in rekindling a romance with her because that would put us right back where we started.  I&#039;ve invested too much emotional capital in her to risk losing the friendship I have with her now.  It should never have escalated beyond that in the first place.  However, I greatly respect the fact that she had the personal strength and fortitude to initiate the romance; she did what I hear too many women say they wish they could do without being negatively judged, but never have the courage to do it.  There are lots of mildly passive/shy/introverted men who see actively initiating women as their best hope, if not their only hope, of having a chance at a romantic relationship.
   I now see a lot of my forty-something male friends and acquaintances who are still bachelors.  A few, like me, were always unsuccessful with women.  But others had normal or even fabulously successful dating lives in their younger days.  One found out the infidelity of the woman he intended to marry on the night he was going to propose; he is still bitter and scarred for life, and this was a friend who was never lacking for a date in college.  I see middle-aged men who have had little or nothing to do with women for upwards of ten years, and I&#039;m one of them.  Some love their freedom and have no intention of giving it up.  But most of these middle-aged bachelors are not swinging singles and relentless Peter Pan playboys.  Most of this crowd are lonely men, burying themselves in their work and hobbies, either because they can&#039;t figure out what went wrong in their love lives or because their spirit is too broken to do anything about it and end up living in a state of learned helplessness.  
   I used to think that I was the only one like this.  But I have seen enough and read enough to know that there is a relatively sizable crowd of never-married middle-aged bachelors which is getting bigger as more men drop out of the competition for women because the rulebook for male-female relationships keeps changing. Quite logically, these men wish to spend their energy and time on work and hobbies, which lift their spirits and offer a certainty of success and approval, rather than waste time on the pursuit of women, which may break their spirits and offer a near certainty of failure and disapproval.
   Furthermore, many middle-aged bachelors come to doubt in their ability to make the necessary sacrifices and compromises to be a good husband.  And they worry about having the energy to be an active father if they have children.  Another thing that people forget is that younger people have time in life to try again at marriage or parenthood if they don&#039;t do so well the first time; older people don&#039;t have quite the time or wherewithal to &quot;do over&quot;, so one whose first marriage is at middle age may feel more compelled to get it right the first time and stay with it no matter how disastrous the consequences may be.  This is why I find it incredulous when I hear women say they would rather marry a twice-divorced man than a never-married middle-aged man because of the premise that the divorced man was at least &quot;willing to take a chance on marriage&quot;.  I find it the gambling metaphor of comparing marriage with tossing dice on tables in Las Vegas offensive.  One involves gain or loss of some money.  The other involves improving or ruining the intrinsic quality of one&#039;s entire life.  There is simply no comparison here!   
   Men are human and have feelings that get hurt and spirits that get broken in relationships.  But the social double-standard offers much less sympathy for men than for women suffering the same indignities.  Maybe men make the mistake of convincing themselves that they don&#039;t need help or advice in personal crises and end up stuck in a frustrated state.  Women tend to be more adept at establishing social networks to overcome emotional crises than men do, and I think men secretly envy this about women.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I am a 47-year-old, heterosexual male who is saving himself for marriage.  Categories 1 and 5 seem to apply to me. Actually, Category 5 was somewhat a result of Category 1.  I was always socially awkward around girls/women.  Since I wouldn&#8217;t admit my interest in girls/women to myself or to others until I was in college, I guess I would be classified a late-bloomer, assuming that I ever bloomed at all.  Therefore, I invest large amounts of time on my career and hobbies, and this compensates for my complete lack of romantic social life.  I can&#8217;t get too depressed about my lack of love life if I spend all my time working.<br />
   I&#8217;ve always been a bit of an introvert, but, as I get older, I find myself becoming more of a loner, more isolated.  On rare occasions, I feel bitterness about my state of existence. At those times, I just stay away form people altogether until I can get over it.<br />
   I have never successfully initiated any form of relationship with a woman by myself.  I was rejected by all three women that I got the courage to ask out during my undergraduate and graduate college years.  The few dates that I did get (four or five maximum) were set up by third parties, either a friend or a couples introduction service (yes, I tried that!).  Neither source of blind date led to anything substantial.<br />
   I&#8217;m one of those types of men who simply cannot do any better than become a woman&#8217;s &#8220;friend&#8221;.  I&#8217;ve become convinced that no sane, non-desperate woman could possibly be romantically interested in me.  Over the years, I have acquired four close female platonic friends that I wouldn&#8217;t trade for the world.  We live far from each other now, so visits are infrequent.  But we maintain contact by phone and greeting cards.  The longest and closest of these friendships has lasted twenty years, so I would reject any accusation of &#8220;commitmentphobia&#8221; (a vulgar, quickie-diagnostic term applied to men by women who really haven&#8217;t taken any time to thoroughly understand the male side of relationship dynamics).  These few long-term platonic friends are the reason why I haven&#8217;t completely given up on finding a romantic relationship &#8212; yet.<br />
   When I asked these female friends for reasons explaining my lack of success, I got the same responses that I have read in books or articles on this matter &#8212; &#8220;too much of a &#8216;nice guy&#8217;&#8221;, &#8220;too passive&#8221;, &#8220;too self-restrained&#8221;, &#8220;too inexperienced&#8221;, &#8220;too set in your ways&#8221;, &#8220;too serious&#8221;, &#8220;too lacking in confidence&#8221;, etc.  I can&#8217;t make any sense of the &#8216;nice guy&#8217; or &#8216;self-restraint&#8217; criticisms; I always saw these as inherently desirable traits in people, as long as one doesn&#8217;t go to the extent of being a &#8216;doormat&#8217; or &#8216;stick in the mud&#8217;.  And people seem to forget that, unless one is grandiose and lacking in humility, confidence is, for most people, a function of achieving successes in some endeavor.  It doesn&#8217;t just come out of nowhere; I don&#8217;t believe in the &#8220;fake it till you make it&#8221; philosophy.  Furthermore, confidence in one endeavor does not necessarily translate into confidence in all endeavors; I can functionally interact with attractive females at work, but then still be at a total loss with how to positively interact with women in a purely social setting, such as a club.<br />
   One of the platonic female friends I mentioned before is actually an ex-girlfriend, the only one I ever had.  I was about 37 years old, and she was a considerably younger single mother.  We met at work.  It had been several years since the last time I was set up on a date.  But the friendship quickly escalated into a romance.  The romantic part of the relationship lasted for two years.  I was knocked off my feet by her initiation of the relationship.  I was honest with her about my lack of dating experience, but that didn&#8217;t seem to bother her &#8212; at lesat not initially.  This relationship did test my commitment to purity.  I am happy to say that I passed this test, but, unfortunately, my abstinence was an added problem to a relationship that was quickly starting to develop some cracks in it.  Without going into all of the details, the first year was pleasant most of the time, but the second year became disastrous, culminating in her dumping me.  She was just too young and impetuous to wait on me to get used to the situation, even though she was made aware of my lack of romantic experience.  After a very awkward transitional period, we were able to salvage a decent friendship out of a trainwreck attempt at romance.  After all these years, there are still unhealed emotional scars and unanswered questions about what could have saved the relationship, but I also have no interest in rekindling a romance with her because that would put us right back where we started.  I&#8217;ve invested too much emotional capital in her to risk losing the friendship I have with her now.  It should never have escalated beyond that in the first place.  However, I greatly respect the fact that she had the personal strength and fortitude to initiate the romance; she did what I hear too many women say they wish they could do without being negatively judged, but never have the courage to do it.  There are lots of mildly passive/shy/introverted men who see actively initiating women as their best hope, if not their only hope, of having a chance at a romantic relationship.<br />
   I now see a lot of my forty-something male friends and acquaintances who are still bachelors.  A few, like me, were always unsuccessful with women.  But others had normal or even fabulously successful dating lives in their younger days.  One found out the infidelity of the woman he intended to marry on the night he was going to propose; he is still bitter and scarred for life, and this was a friend who was never lacking for a date in college.  I see middle-aged men who have had little or nothing to do with women for upwards of ten years, and I&#8217;m one of them.  Some love their freedom and have no intention of giving it up.  But most of these middle-aged bachelors are not swinging singles and relentless Peter Pan playboys.  Most of this crowd are lonely men, burying themselves in their work and hobbies, either because they can&#8217;t figure out what went wrong in their love lives or because their spirit is too broken to do anything about it and end up living in a state of learned helplessness.<br />
   I used to think that I was the only one like this.  But I have seen enough and read enough to know that there is a relatively sizable crowd of never-married middle-aged bachelors which is getting bigger as more men drop out of the competition for women because the rulebook for male-female relationships keeps changing. Quite logically, these men wish to spend their energy and time on work and hobbies, which lift their spirits and offer a certainty of success and approval, rather than waste time on the pursuit of women, which may break their spirits and offer a near certainty of failure and disapproval.<br />
   Furthermore, many middle-aged bachelors come to doubt in their ability to make the necessary sacrifices and compromises to be a good husband.  And they worry about having the energy to be an active father if they have children.  Another thing that people forget is that younger people have time in life to try again at marriage or parenthood if they don&#8217;t do so well the first time; older people don&#8217;t have quite the time or wherewithal to &#8220;do over&#8221;, so one whose first marriage is at middle age may feel more compelled to get it right the first time and stay with it no matter how disastrous the consequences may be.  This is why I find it incredulous when I hear women say they would rather marry a twice-divorced man than a never-married middle-aged man because of the premise that the divorced man was at least &#8220;willing to take a chance on marriage&#8221;.  I find it the gambling metaphor of comparing marriage with tossing dice on tables in Las Vegas offensive.  One involves gain or loss of some money.  The other involves improving or ruining the intrinsic quality of one&#8217;s entire life.  There is simply no comparison here!<br />
   Men are human and have feelings that get hurt and spirits that get broken in relationships.  But the social double-standard offers much less sympathy for men than for women suffering the same indignities.  Maybe men make the mistake of convincing themselves that they don&#8217;t need help or advice in personal crises and end up stuck in a frustrated state.  Women tend to be more adept at establishing social networks to overcome emotional crises than men do, and I think men secretly envy this about women.</p>
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		<title>By: MarkyMark</title>
		<link>http://melissablogs.com/2008/07/14/are-47-year-old-single-men-inherently-suspect/comment-page-1/#comment-9951</link>
		<dc:creator>MarkyMark</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:14:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melissaclouthier.com/?p=9401#comment-9951</guid>
		<description>Guys,

I cannot add anything to what J David, Basil, and Peter have already said.  Why in BLAZES would I want to go through all the mental &amp; emotional abuse your typical bitch brings to the table these days?  Why?!  I couldn&#039;t come up with a good answer to that question, so I shall remain single, HAPPILY single...

MarkyMark</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Guys,</p>
<p>I cannot add anything to what J David, Basil, and Peter have already said.  Why in BLAZES would I want to go through all the mental &amp; emotional abuse your typical bitch brings to the table these days?  Why?!  I couldn&#8217;t come up with a good answer to that question, so I shall remain single, HAPPILY single&#8230;</p>
<p>MarkyMark</p>
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	</item>
	<item>
		<title>By: Relationship advice that makes a difference</title>
		<link>http://melissablogs.com/2008/07/14/are-47-year-old-single-men-inherently-suspect/comment-page-1/#comment-8301</link>
		<dc:creator>Relationship advice that makes a difference</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:23:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melissaclouthier.com/?p=9401#comment-8301</guid>
		<description>Very well done. I\&#039;m impresses with your insights.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Very well done. I\&#8217;m impresses with your insights.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>By: Ken</title>
		<link>http://melissablogs.com/2008/07/14/are-47-year-old-single-men-inherently-suspect/comment-page-1/#comment-7988</link>
		<dc:creator>Ken</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:11:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melissaclouthier.com/?p=9401#comment-7988</guid>
		<description>Islam has a solution for this.  Total Male Supremacy by Divine Fiat.

Don&#039;t you think a message of &quot;WOMAN! DO AS I SAY OR I BEAT YOU!&quot; (backed up by burqas, Honor Killings, et al) would appeal to the hindbrains of men who&#039;ve gone through what J David and Peter have?

Femmies, beware of crapping on (male) somebody day-and-night; if they ever get power over you (as is true of most human cultures throughout history), the word for the day is going to be &quot;revenge&quot;.  There may be a Muezzin calling from the Kaaba, promising not only protection for men, but payback -- with interest.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Islam has a solution for this.  Total Male Supremacy by Divine Fiat.</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t you think a message of &#8220;WOMAN! DO AS I SAY OR I BEAT YOU!&#8221; (backed up by burqas, Honor Killings, et al) would appeal to the hindbrains of men who&#8217;ve gone through what J David and Peter have?</p>
<p>Femmies, beware of crapping on (male) somebody day-and-night; if they ever get power over you (as is true of most human cultures throughout history), the word for the day is going to be &#8220;revenge&#8221;.  There may be a Muezzin calling from the Kaaba, promising not only protection for men, but payback &#8212; with interest.</p>
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		<title>By: Basil</title>
		<link>http://melissablogs.com/2008/07/14/are-47-year-old-single-men-inherently-suspect/comment-page-1/#comment-7962</link>
		<dc:creator>Basil</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:25:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melissaclouthier.com/?p=9401#comment-7962</guid>
		<description>I am a 37 year old, non-gay male. I haven&#039;t faced this yet, but I know it&#039;s coming. For the time being, I get the disbelief reaction &quot;...are the women in your area blind or stupid?&quot; I&#039;m asked. I&#039;ve always been rather shy, so I guess I fit into the #1 catagory. Top that off with the fact that ever since I&#039;ve been old enough to care, I&#039;ve been told in various ways, that no women will ever be interested in me. These same women then turn around and say that they would never go with someone who hasn&#039;t &quot;done it&quot; by whatever age. I make the effort, but I know how it&#039;s going to turn out. Internet Personals are a scam. Sign up as a trial member and I get inundated with responses from eager women who use the above quote. But the moment I become a paid member - NOTHING. It never fails. International searches are no better; I get either scamming Russians or desperate Philipinas, neither of which I am interested in. I&#039;ve long ago come to the conclusion that I&#039;ve got a better chance of finding Bigfoot than actually meetibg a women who would even throw water on me if I was on fire.  But it has its advantages, I can wear what I want (including &quot;THAT&quot;, eat what I want, watch what I want without having to apoligize to anyone. I like alot of alone time, no woman understands it now and none ever will. My ultimate goal is that If I live to reach old age and am living in a retirement community, I&#039;ll still be single. I&#039;ve heard that single men in such situations get alot of attention. If that is the case, I look forward to laughing in the face of the wrinkled old hags who were once the pretty people who used to put me down. I will have the last laugh!!!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I am a 37 year old, non-gay male. I haven&#8217;t faced this yet, but I know it&#8217;s coming. For the time being, I get the disbelief reaction &#8220;&#8230;are the women in your area blind or stupid?&#8221; I&#8217;m asked. I&#8217;ve always been rather shy, so I guess I fit into the #1 catagory. Top that off with the fact that ever since I&#8217;ve been old enough to care, I&#8217;ve been told in various ways, that no women will ever be interested in me. These same women then turn around and say that they would never go with someone who hasn&#8217;t &#8220;done it&#8221; by whatever age. I make the effort, but I know how it&#8217;s going to turn out. Internet Personals are a scam. Sign up as a trial member and I get inundated with responses from eager women who use the above quote. But the moment I become a paid member &#8211; NOTHING. It never fails. International searches are no better; I get either scamming Russians or desperate Philipinas, neither of which I am interested in. I&#8217;ve long ago come to the conclusion that I&#8217;ve got a better chance of finding Bigfoot than actually meetibg a women who would even throw water on me if I was on fire.  But it has its advantages, I can wear what I want (including &#8220;THAT&#8221;, eat what I want, watch what I want without having to apoligize to anyone. I like alot of alone time, no woman understands it now and none ever will. My ultimate goal is that If I live to reach old age and am living in a retirement community, I&#8217;ll still be single. I&#8217;ve heard that single men in such situations get alot of attention. If that is the case, I look forward to laughing in the face of the wrinkled old hags who were once the pretty people who used to put me down. I will have the last laugh!!!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>By: Peter</title>
		<link>http://melissablogs.com/2008/07/14/are-47-year-old-single-men-inherently-suspect/comment-page-1/#comment-7946</link>
		<dc:creator>Peter</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:04:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melissaclouthier.com/?p=9401#comment-7946</guid>
		<description>1. I start to date, and she starts trying to ‘fix’ me.
2. All my friends are idiots and morons.
3. All my possessions aren’t fit for Goodwill.
4. My apartment/house is a dump.
5. She gets tired of the whole thing, takes me to Court and takes half of everything. The best half, usually including the house that she was so critical of before.
6. After awhile, I start to notice that her girlfriends look at me as though I was carrying the plague, due to the incessant criticsm that is leveled without response.

Why would I bother marrying that? Or more accurately, since all the above happened to me, why would I make that mistake again?

You want to find the problem here? Look in the mirror. A pox on all of you.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>1. I start to date, and she starts trying to ‘fix’ me.<br />
2. All my friends are idiots and morons.<br />
3. All my possessions aren’t fit for Goodwill.<br />
4. My apartment/house is a dump.<br />
5. She gets tired of the whole thing, takes me to Court and takes half of everything. The best half, usually including the house that she was so critical of before.<br />
6. After awhile, I start to notice that her girlfriends look at me as though I was carrying the plague, due to the incessant criticsm that is leveled without response.</p>
<p>Why would I bother marrying that? Or more accurately, since all the above happened to me, why would I make that mistake again?</p>
<p>You want to find the problem here? Look in the mirror. A pox on all of you.</p>
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		<title>By: Zendo Deb</title>
		<link>http://melissablogs.com/2008/07/14/are-47-year-old-single-men-inherently-suspect/comment-page-1/#comment-7945</link>
		<dc:creator>Zendo Deb</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:10:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melissaclouthier.com/?p=9401#comment-7945</guid>
		<description>For most of human history (and even today in lots of the world) women and men had no choice about being single.

Perhaps you&#039;ve heard of the concept of the arranged marriage.  That cultural inertia even carried the US through the 50s.  You got married.  That&#039;s what you did.

Consider it from the other side. Are most married people happy being married?  You state that most would love to be a perfect relationship, which is probably true.  But are most married people happily married, in their imperfect daily-grind relationships?

Given that 50% of marriages fail, I believe the answer is &quot;no.&quot;  Add to that the number of people who are in bad marriages - abusive or just plain unloving - but stay because of economics, or religion or whatever. However you slice it, it is not the case that the vast majority of people are just so happy with marriage.  (Or do you think people are perfectly happy in marriage except for that last year spent with the lawyers?)

Look at what is going on in Japan today.  The men want to get married, but the women don&#039;t want to sign up for the lives their mothers had.  Marriage - and the role assigned to women - hasn&#039;t changed all that much in Japan, but women&#039;s expectations of life has changed. So they aren&#039;t getting married.

For the record, I am 47-year-old single lesbian.  Single in that I am not in relationship at the time.  I live on a boat.  While there are a few single women living aboard boats, mostly I see single men and few couples.  Its funny, but since we are all doing what we want to do (except for the few spouses dragged kicking and screaming aboard), most of us are as happy as people get.  Life is about pain and joy, and marriage - or so it seems to me - doesn&#039;t insulate people from the pain, anymore than it increases the joy in life.  You might get a different kind of joy, but I can say the same thing about my life.

You see I always get this argument... &quot;I would be happier if [fill in the blank].&quot;  I can&#039;t tell you how many people - friends, family, relative strangers - want to argue that I would be happier if I &quot;turned straight.&quot;  When I guy tells me this I tell him to find the perfect man and sleep with him, if it turns him gay, then I&#039;ll at least consider sleeping with the guy one time.

Here are some other arguments.

&quot;Married people are happier.&quot;  Single are A) not home when the survey people come calling, B) are sleeping off the effects of last night or C) never answer a survey.  (I fall into category &quot;C&quot; when I am not in &quot;A&quot;)

&quot;Married people live longer.&quot;  Married people live safe lives. They don&#039;t ride motorcycles, jump out of airplanes, get into small boats and sail out-of-sight-of land at quite the same rate as single folks. Do other crazy things that singles are like to do. Of course they live longer.  (And having seen the end-of-life medical treatment several times for my mother, aunts, uncles, grandparents.... I&#039;m not so sure I want to live that long.)</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For most of human history (and even today in lots of the world) women and men had no choice about being single.</p>
<p>Perhaps you&#8217;ve heard of the concept of the arranged marriage.  That cultural inertia even carried the US through the 50s.  You got married.  That&#8217;s what you did.</p>
<p>Consider it from the other side. Are most married people happy being married?  You state that most would love to be a perfect relationship, which is probably true.  But are most married people happily married, in their imperfect daily-grind relationships?</p>
<p>Given that 50% of marriages fail, I believe the answer is &#8220;no.&#8221;  Add to that the number of people who are in bad marriages &#8211; abusive or just plain unloving &#8211; but stay because of economics, or religion or whatever. However you slice it, it is not the case that the vast majority of people are just so happy with marriage.  (Or do you think people are perfectly happy in marriage except for that last year spent with the lawyers?)</p>
<p>Look at what is going on in Japan today.  The men want to get married, but the women don&#8217;t want to sign up for the lives their mothers had.  Marriage &#8211; and the role assigned to women &#8211; hasn&#8217;t changed all that much in Japan, but women&#8217;s expectations of life has changed. So they aren&#8217;t getting married.</p>
<p>For the record, I am 47-year-old single lesbian.  Single in that I am not in relationship at the time.  I live on a boat.  While there are a few single women living aboard boats, mostly I see single men and few couples.  Its funny, but since we are all doing what we want to do (except for the few spouses dragged kicking and screaming aboard), most of us are as happy as people get.  Life is about pain and joy, and marriage &#8211; or so it seems to me &#8211; doesn&#8217;t insulate people from the pain, anymore than it increases the joy in life.  You might get a different kind of joy, but I can say the same thing about my life.</p>
<p>You see I always get this argument&#8230; &#8220;I would be happier if [fill in the blank].&#8221;  I can&#8217;t tell you how many people &#8211; friends, family, relative strangers &#8211; want to argue that I would be happier if I &#8220;turned straight.&#8221;  When I guy tells me this I tell him to find the perfect man and sleep with him, if it turns him gay, then I&#8217;ll at least consider sleeping with the guy one time.</p>
<p>Here are some other arguments.</p>
<p>&#8220;Married people are happier.&#8221;  Single are A) not home when the survey people come calling, B) are sleeping off the effects of last night or C) never answer a survey.  (I fall into category &#8220;C&#8221; when I am not in &#8220;A&#8221;)</p>
<p>&#8220;Married people live longer.&#8221;  Married people live safe lives. They don&#8217;t ride motorcycles, jump out of airplanes, get into small boats and sail out-of-sight-of land at quite the same rate as single folks. Do other crazy things that singles are like to do. Of course they live longer.  (And having seen the end-of-life medical treatment several times for my mother, aunts, uncles, grandparents&#8230;. I&#8217;m not so sure I want to live that long.)</p>
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		<title>By: Ken</title>
		<link>http://melissablogs.com/2008/07/14/are-47-year-old-single-men-inherently-suspect/comment-page-1/#comment-7942</link>
		<dc:creator>Ken</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:09:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melissaclouthier.com/?p=9401#comment-7942</guid>
		<description>I would like to eliminate the term &quot;Soul Mate&quot; from the English language.  In my experience:

1)  Nothing triggers the &quot;OOOOOO! MY SOULMATE!&quot; reaction in a woman like an abusive creep.  (&quot;He&#039;s so (gasp) EXCITING!&quot;)  Funny that when a man hates women so much all he can do with them is abuse and harm them, suddenly he&#039;s irrestistable to them.

2)  As I&#039;ve heard it used, &quot;Soulmate&quot; is NEVER the one you&#039;re married to.  &quot;My Soulmate&quot; is ALWAYS the one you&#039;re screwing on the side.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I would like to eliminate the term &#8220;Soul Mate&#8221; from the English language.  In my experience:</p>
<p>1)  Nothing triggers the &#8220;OOOOOO! MY SOULMATE!&#8221; reaction in a woman like an abusive creep.  (&#8220;He&#8217;s so (gasp) EXCITING!&#8221;)  Funny that when a man hates women so much all he can do with them is abuse and harm them, suddenly he&#8217;s irrestistable to them.</p>
<p>2)  As I&#8217;ve heard it used, &#8220;Soulmate&#8221; is NEVER the one you&#8217;re married to.  &#8220;My Soulmate&#8221; is ALWAYS the one you&#8217;re screwing on the side.</p>
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		<title>By: J David</title>
		<link>http://melissablogs.com/2008/07/14/are-47-year-old-single-men-inherently-suspect/comment-page-1/#comment-7937</link>
		<dc:creator>J David</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:40:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melissaclouthier.com/?p=9401#comment-7937</guid>
		<description>...In other words...exactly *WHO* is &quot;shunning&quot; who&quot;...</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8230;In other words&#8230;exactly *WHO* is &#8220;shunning&#8221; who&#8221;&#8230;</p>
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		<title>By: J David</title>
		<link>http://melissablogs.com/2008/07/14/are-47-year-old-single-men-inherently-suspect/comment-page-1/#comment-7936</link>
		<dc:creator>J David</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:23:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melissaclouthier.com/?p=9401#comment-7936</guid>
		<description>See Rachel Lucas&#039; site today for further reasons to laugh out loud at even the suggestion of being some woman&#039;s toady for the rest of my natural existence...</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>See Rachel Lucas&#8217; site today for further reasons to laugh out loud at even the suggestion of being some woman&#8217;s toady for the rest of my natural existence&#8230;</p>
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