In case you don’t believe that Singles are Stigmatized… August 7, 2008
Posted by Onely in Food for Thought, Singled Out.Tags: institutional penalties, single, singlism, stigmatization
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Christina sent me a link to the following article: “Unmarried sisters lose inheritance tax fight.” It’s the UK but methinks similar penalties/rationale would be applied in the US.
— L
REVIEW: SINGLED OUT, by Bella DePaulo–Why are matrimaniacs matrimaniacs? August 5, 2008
Posted by Onely in book review, Reviews, Singled Out, We like. . ..Tags: bella depaulo, discrimination, heteronormative, marriage mythology, prejudice, single mythology, Singled Out, singlism
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DePaulo, Bella. Singled Out, How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2006
(This is an ongoing, serial review, continued from an earlier post)
In Singled Out, DePaulo theorizes that “matrimaniacs” (people who fixate on the importance of marriage and coupling) belittle single people for the following reason:
Onely as Feminist Resistance July 26, 2008
Posted by Onely in "Against Love"...?, Essay review, Food for Thought, Heteronormativity, Reviews, Singled Out.Tags: adrienne rich, being single, capitalism, compulsory heterosexuality, feminism, friendships between women, lesbian existence, male control, resistance, single and happy
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I recently finished an essay by Adrienne Rich entitled “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” which is old in terms of publication date (1980) but new – brand new – to me. Rich’s primary argument is directed against feminist scholars who deny, ignore and/or marginalize the fact of lesbian existence, but she also mentions other “facts” of female existence – such as living alone and/or single – that have also been ignored in the face of what she calls “compulsory heterosexuality.” (more…)
Cable TV, Scourge of the Onelys (installment 374x): What Not to Wear July 23, 2008
Posted by Onely in "Against Love"...?, As If!, Food for Thought, Pop Culture: Scourge of the Onelys, Singled Out.Tags: fashion, guilty pleasure, rhetoric, sophistication, tlc, what not to wear
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Since I often work at home, one of my guilty pleasures is to watch reruns of TLC’s show, What Not to Wear (the American version) when I take a break for lunch. Today, inspired by Bella DePaulo’s chapter on the myth that Every Single Person Is “Interested in Just One Thing – Getting Coupled,” I decided to take notes as I watched today’s episode, which focused on a 26-year-old single young woman named Sohni. I was curious about whether the show’s rhetoric would carry a pro-coupling spin or if maybe it would just encourage Sohni to look fabulous, no matter her motivation. After all, Sohni has a career, hopes to go to law school, and likes to party with her friends in Chicago… Isn’t that enough? (more…)
Book Review: Singled Out, by Bella DePaulo July 21, 2008
Posted by Onely in book review, Reviews, Singled Out, We like. . ..Tags: bella depaulo, discrimination, heteronormative, marriage mythology, prejudice, single mythology, Singled Out, singlism
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DePaulo, Bella. Singled Out, How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2006.
From Singled Out:
“Some components of singlism are built right into American laws and institutions, which means that neither coupled nor single people have any say about sustaining them. Take Social Security, for example. If you are a married person covered by Social Security and you die, your spouse can recieve your benefits. But if you are a single person who worked side by side with the married person at the same job for the same number of years and you die, no other adult can receive your benefits. Your money goes back into the system.”
How could I have never asked myself: Why? DePaulo explores why few people question our culture’s ingrained bias toward coupledom, and why we should start. (more…)
Living Single Blog: Check It Out!! July 12, 2008
Posted by Onely in Singled Out, We like. . ..Tags: bella depaulo, living single blog, rhetoric
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Christina and I were so excited to hear from Bella DePaulo (author of Singled Out: How Singles are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After [2006] and inventor of the term “singlism”) after Christina mentioned her in a recent post that we couldn’t wait to say more about DePaulo (our review of DePaulo’s book will be posted soon – as Christina says, “stay tuned”!). So, after a quick perusal of her personal Web site, we discovered that DePaulo also writes a weekly blog, Living Single, for Pyschology Today. (more…)
Stay tuned: Singlism July 9, 2008
Posted by Onely in Food for Thought, Singled Out.Tags: discrimination, singlism
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A quick Google search tells us that social psychologist Bella DePaulo coined the term “singlism”, meaning discrimination against singles. Did you know that singlism is not only an emotional component of our society, but is actually institutionalized? (more…)
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