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American Women Are Giving Up on Marriage
The Wall Street Journal ^ | March 21, 2025 | Rachel Wolfe

Posted on 03/24/2025 5:58:27 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

After a handful of underwhelming relationships and dozens of disappointing first dates, Andrea Vorlicek recently called off the search for a husband.

The 29-year-old always thought she’d have found her life partner by now. Instead, she’s house hunting solo and considering having kids on her own.

“I’m financially self-sufficient enough to do these things myself,” said Vorlicek, a Boston-based accountant. “I’m willing to accept being single versus settling for someone who isn’t the right fit.”

She sees her plans for an independent future as making the best of a lousy situation. “I don’t want to sit here and say I’m 100% happy,” Vorlicek said. “But I feel happier just accepting my reality. It’s mentally and emotionally a sense of peace.”

American women have never been this resigned to staying single. They are responding to major demographic shifts, including huge and growing gender gaps in economic and educational attainment, political affiliation and beliefs about what a family should look like.

“The numbers aren’t netting out,” said Daniel Cox, director of the survey center at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative think tank. He ticked off the data points: More women than men are attending college, buying houses and focusing on their friendships and careers over dating and marriage.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: agitprop; americanwoman; astroturf; demagogicparty; dnctalkingpoint; dnctalkingpoints; genderdysphoria; homosexualagenda; marriage; mediawingofthednc; men; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; rachelwolfe; wallstreetjournal; women
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To: FLT-bird

“Women initiate 69% of all divorces.”

This is a stat that’s almost meaningless. There is such a thing as fault in a divorce.
examples - woman beaten up by husband, serial infidelity by husband, drug using husband threatening children. I knew these cases and yes the women initiated the divorce.


321 posted on 03/25/2025 4:51:23 AM PDT by Varda
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To: FLT-bird
men routinely get hit with crushing divorce judgements if they've had kids with their wife.

Only if the kids are still minors. When this first started happening in the 1970s, it was older couples splitting up. The men were usually smart enough to wait till the kids were grown and gone. Where do you think the phrase "trophy wife" comes from?

322 posted on 03/25/2025 4:53:11 AM PDT by A_perfect_lady (The greatest wealth is to live content with little. -Plato)
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To: A_perfect_lady
Yes, the ones who had their own money. That still means almost one in three divorces were initiated by men, and any woman who didn't have her own money was in trouble. If one out of every three women played by the rules and got dumped anyway, you can see why they came to the conclusion that girl, you better have your own income.

Even if they don't have money but the husband does, if they've been married and had a child or two, the man is going to get raked over the coals in family court in the form of alimony and child support - and its a foregone conclusion he will not get custody of his children. So divorce is not a very attractive prospect to most men. That's why women intitiate about 7 out of 10 divorces.

323 posted on 03/25/2025 4:57:35 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: FLT-bird
Its pointless to condemn each sex for preferring what they do in a mate. Its nature/evolution and its not going to change. People might as well just accept that. No amount of social pressure is ever going to change it.

You are 100% correct!

The problem is that modern circumstances (relatively safe communities, Nanny State safety nets, modern workplaces where muscular strength and stamina no longer have a premium, the "Pill," etc.) combined with online dating - together with secondary and tertiary effects like clergymen and society at large placing their "seal of approval" on fertility treatments, egg-freezing, "alternate lifestyles," unwed motherhood, etc. - utterly unshackled and released the Female psyche and allowed their natural hypergamy to run rampant.

This benefited 80% of the women (at least initially, until they reach 40 and finally realize that they've been hoodwinked) and 20% of the men (the "Chads").

Social pressure can change things - in a village or small town, where the risk of peer disapproval / social ostracization can pose a real detriment. But we're living in a global community, and anyone with a really bizarre choice of lifestyle can nonetheless still find a small but select community of like-minded freaks to celebrate it and him.

I've always regarded lesbianism as esp. pernicious. As a young man, I had a few male classmates who eventually "came out" as gay - and it didn't bother me in the least, because "sperm is cheap" and no matter how many men opted out of the heterosexual mating game, there would always be plenty more willing to dive in and "make up the difference."

But lesbians remove a scarce good - their ova and wombs - from the market. Sure, they can always avail themselves of fertility treatments, but... That is a sub-optimal solution.

Regards,

324 posted on 03/25/2025 4:59:45 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Varda
This is a stat that’s almost meaningless. There is such a thing as fault in a divorce. examples - woman beaten up by husband, serial infidelity by husband, drug using husband threatening children. I knew these cases and yes the women initiated the divorce.

the vast majority of cases do not involve spousal abuse or infidelity. Women just got bored with the marriage....ie "a sense of being unfulfilled or feeling held back".

This is a BIG factor in why men, especially ones who have built a solid career in their 30s do not want to marry women in their 30s who they know don't really want them and are just seeking any remotely acceptable man before its too late to have kids. The chances of those women seeking a divorce a vastly higher than for women who really wanted the man they are with.

325 posted on 03/25/2025 5:02:01 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: A_perfect_lady; FLT-bird
Yes, the ones who had their own money. That still means almost one in three divorces were initiated by men, and any woman who didn't have her own money was in trouble. If one out of every three women played by the rules and got dumped anyway, you can see why they came to the conclusion that girl, you better have your own income.

I think that you are incorrectly conflating "no-fault divorce" with "no spousal support."

Even in a "no-fault" situation, the financially weaker spouse is still entitled to alimony and child-support - esp. in the scenario you described ("...later in life [after] a lifetime of housework and child-rearing...").

Regards,

326 posted on 03/25/2025 5:05:08 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: A_perfect_lady
Only if the kids are still minors.

If the guy doesn't get married until his 30s because that's how long it took to build a good career and thus that's how long it took before women would consider him marriage material, he'd have to be in his early to mid 50s at the earliest before the kids would be out of the house. From his mid 30s to about 50 would be the danger zone for when the wife could take him to family court and clean him out in a divorce/child support case. Its not usually the man filing for divorce and I would venture to guess the 31% of divorces initiated by men are usually those in a very different situation.

327 posted on 03/25/2025 5:06:01 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: FLT-bird
The last time I looked at the stats, they showed women initiating divorce largely due to causes such as what I listed.
I gave anecdotes because I'm not in possession of current stats. Perhaps you have evidence that's not personal opinion or anecdotal?
328 posted on 03/25/2025 5:08:06 AM PDT by Varda
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To: alternatives?

I have heard rumblings that younger people are becoming more conservative...that may indeed be true, unless they go to college!


329 posted on 03/25/2025 5:17:00 AM PDT by rlmorel ("A people that elect corrupt politicians are not victims...but accomplices." George Orwell)
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To: alexander_busek
No woman was ever grateful for being sent a "dick pic."

A women hesitates opening a message from a man, expecting it to be such a picture but finds something she finds far, far worse - a poem.

330 posted on 03/25/2025 5:21:20 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: Varda
The last time I looked at the stats, they showed women initiating divorce largely due to causes such as what I listed. I gave anecdotes because I'm not in possession of current stats. Perhaps you have evidence that's not personal opinion or anecdotal?

When I looked it up it was not due to abuse or infidelity (which shock shock the sexes aren't that far apart in the frequency of this). Rather it was due in the majority of cases to women feeling bored/unfulfilled in the marriage.

Divorce.com reports that women often feel less satisfied in marriages due to unmet emotional needs, poor communication, and lack of independence. Notice we're not talking about abuse or infidelity here.

Why Are Spouses Unhappy in Marriages? Some opinions suggest that marital dissatisfaction doesn’t typically happen overnight. Instead, it may stem from the emotional unreadiness of both men and women to have a dependable partnership. Women often feel less satisfied in relationships, which makes them more likely to initiate breakups. This lower satisfaction comes from various issues, like not feeling emotionally fulfilled, poor communication, and lack of independence in the relationship. Women usually want more emotional closeness and support; they become unhappy when they don't get it. This unhappiness often leads them to end the relationship. — Brette Sember, JD Another reason women may be unhappy in marriage is that their relationship wasn’t satisfying enough from the start. So, why did they marry then? Social pressure is often the answer. On the other hand, men usually feel more satisfied in relationships. This might be because they have different emotional needs or are taught to stay in relationships longer. Because men are generally happier, they start breakups less often.

excerpts from a quick google search on the subject. This is consistent with what I've read before. Anecdotally, both of my best friends are divorced and this is consistent with their experiences too.

331 posted on 03/25/2025 5:22:31 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: antceecee

Preach it.


332 posted on 03/25/2025 5:29:15 AM PDT by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus)
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To: crusty old prospector

You also see the collapse of Western Civilization.


333 posted on 03/25/2025 5:31:41 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: Jonty30

Men have been throwing away chastity for a LONG time and it’s not an issue to them when THEY do it.

Complete rank hypocrisy.


334 posted on 03/25/2025 5:33:27 AM PDT by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus)
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To: alexander_busek; antceecee
So how justified are you in blaming men?

As justified as women are for blaming men.

The "poor behavior" (total resignation) that (many) young men are now displaying in response is equally well documented.

Poor babies. Don't know how to man up.

335 posted on 03/25/2025 5:36:42 AM PDT by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus)
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To: metmom

Actually they do know how to man up.

The women see all manly behaviors as threatening

Young women do not know how to be with young men unless sexual.


336 posted on 03/25/2025 5:41:07 AM PDT by Chickensoup
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To: rollo tomasi
Body count matters when looking for a marriage partner

It matters to women, too, but men rationalize their *experience* by claiming that a woman wants a man with *experience*< while by God, she'd better be a virgin or men reject her as *too loose*.

Thing men need to consider is where they're going to find all these virgins if they're going around sleeping with anything that moves.

337 posted on 03/25/2025 5:41:11 AM PDT by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus)
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To: Jonty30

“Men respond to their being needed.”

Exactly.

Remember the old picture of Nancy Reagan looking up in admiration at President Reagan?

That is what men want in a woman—even if she is faking it!

Men want to believe they are the hero of their household—regardless of their status in the outside world.

Most modern white collar women are incapable of treating their husband like one—no matter what positive attributes the man has.


338 posted on 03/25/2025 5:41:18 AM PDT by cgbg (It was not us. It was them--all along.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

IMO a lot of these women expect the perfect fairy tale. Guess what? Not happening. It requires love, humility, patience, and grace.


339 posted on 03/25/2025 5:44:15 AM PDT by pnz1 ("These people have gone stone-cold crazy")
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To: MayflowerMadam
I agree with all of that 100%. I never believed that wives should work outside the home, whether there are children or not.

I'm going to have to disagree with that. If there are no kids in the home, she needs SOMETHING to do with her time or boredom will crush her. People (men AND women) get into all kinds of trouble with too much time on their hands.

There are plenty of roles women can fill in society that don't take family supporting jobs from men.

340 posted on 03/25/2025 5:44:54 AM PDT by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus)
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