Singledom Statistics Warped By Photo July 1, 2023
Posted by Onely in As If!.Tags: Fox news is asinine, Photos of happy single people, Singles in the Media, singlism
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Hiya Copious Readers. We here at Onely have been away for a while, because we’re working on other writing projects (and binging Derry Girls on Netflix). Today I saw an article and photograph in The Hill that reminded me why we started Onely so many years ago, before singles’ advocacy was cool. This article shows how insidious singlism is, and how many assumptions we (well, not ME!) make about people based on marital status. How it just slips into our lives, all sneaky-like. The text of the article itself, by Julia Shapiro, isn’t problematic. The headline is: Share of 40-Year-Old Americans Who Have Never Been Married Hits Record High. It’s based on a recent Pew study and mainly cites marriage statistics, such as:
Men were slightly more likely than women to remain unmarried into their 40s in 2021, with 28 percent of men and 22 percent of women falling into this category, the Pew analysis found.
Good for Shapiro (and Pew) for sharing these important numbers. Her article doesn’t call this no-marriage trend good or bad. It doesn’t have to. We know that the rising number of single people is BAD, because whoever attached a photo to this article in Apple News (not The Hill website) chose a problematic picture. In the photo, a woman sits on a couch staring out a window, one arm curled around her bent legs and the other supporting her chin. Everything about the image screams,
OH WOE IS ME, MY TERRIBLE LIFE CHOICES HAVE LED ME TO BE WITHOUT A MAN (OR WOMAN). MAYBE I CAN FIND ONE OUTSIDE MY WINDOW, TO COMPLETE MY SAD EMPTY LIFE?
The plot thickened when I looked at CNN’s coverage of the same Pew study, A record-high number of 40-year-olds in the US have never been married, study finds. The photo attached to the phone version of the CNN website also shows a woman looking out a window. In this image, the woman sits with her legs propped up on an open window seat, holding a (I imagine) hot cup of cherry coffee and looking at a view of a rock wall topped with plants, bordering a lawn, or possibly a green pond. Everything about the image screams,
I AM HAVING A NICE RELAXING TIME. IS THAT A FAWN AND A BUNNY FROLICKING IN THE BUSHES? I CAN’T WAIT TO GO TO THE COFFEE SHOP TO READ ABOUT THE HISTORY OF SPICES AND THEN MEET MY FRIENDS FROM BELLY DANCING CLASS.
Apparently the CNN editor saw the rising number of unmarried people as a progressive, hopeful thing, whereas the Apple News editor was saddened and horrified.
The plot not only thickened, but condensed into a viscous slurry, when I stumbled on the Fox News version of this story. [**TRIGGER WARNING: Family values and Bradford Wilcox**]
The Fox website article, Record-High Number of 40-Year-Olds in U.S. Have Never Been Married, Study Finds, is accompanied not by a photo of a woman staring out a window, but by a video clip labelled,
YOUNG ADULTS BEHIND IN REACHING LIFE MILESTONES
Yes, because only by getting married can you move on from your childlike nether-world into the realms of responsibility and achievement. Or so thinks Bradford Wilcox of UVA’s National Marriage Project, who reacted to this survey by going on Fox to bitch about it. Statistics are saying his project is outdated and regressive, and his poor little ego just can’t take it. Awww. Maybe he should look out a window.
–CC
Photo Credit: Jessie McCall, @littlegreeneyes on Unsplash.
Onely.Org 
This is Singlutionary, remember me from so many years ago? So great to hear from you. I still see plenty of singlism, but I feel like the upcoming generation doesn’t have this same prejudice. It makes me happy. Anyways, just wanted to say hello!
Singlutionary! Of course I remember you! It’s been a while since the internet marketplace tried to sell me your domain name! I guess they finally gave up, because I was like NO ONE can be singlutionary except Singlutionary! Thanks for commenting. I miss your feedback!
I like to think the woman in the first photo (the “Woe Is Me” lady) is sad because she can’t figure out whether to dine at the Ethiopian OR the Malaysian restaurant tonight! And it’s very difficult when you don’t have a man to help you make the decision. Ha!!!!!
So true! I miss having a man to give me helpful advice, like when a certain narcissist who shall not be named pantiesplained me about taking better care of my period underwear. Kicking him out was such a mistake. I regularly look out the window and wonder morosely what do do about my period underwear.
“Maybe he should look out a window!” Hahahah. I love it. CNN good; FOX News bad.
You rock!