Rethinking Loneliness: Singledom and the Stigma of Solitude

Singles can face mistaken stereotypes and value judgments that they are less happy, or lonelier. For many, being single is simply a relationship preference or even an orientation.

BONUS READ: What To Say To Relatives Prying Into Your Love Life Over The Holidays—Or Anytime via Bustle.

Singles are split between being on and off the dating market.

In ways both large and small, American society still assumes that the default adult has a partner and that the default household contains multiple people.

The tremendous power of life choice representation.

The idea of making a home into a place for others, as opposed to one’s self, is falling out of style.

We’re eating alone more often than in any previous generation. But why should a meal on our own be uninspired? Why shouldn’t the French saying “life is too short to drink bad wine” still apply?

This is a development with enormous consequences for how we define family and adulthood in general, as well as how we structure taxation and benefits.

The coronavirus could change lingering cultural assumptions about what makes for a full and happy life.

BONUS READ: The Rise of the Childfree Movement on TikTok via Mashable.

Tax policies have preserved the inequality that has long defined America.

Billy Baker on loneliness and finding connection.

Social and legal benefits that favor the married disadvantage the single. Why should your love life be used against you?

Do you want a ritual defined by the absence of settling down, or just one without its trappings?

It’s a movement made for the moment.

BONUS READ: The Best Solo Board Games via Polygon.

Solitude is a practice that prepares one for social and political life. To be with others, first learn to be alone.

Although loneliness may seem timeless and universal, the word seems to have originated in the 16th century.

The stereotype has been with us since the Middle Ages. But where did it come from? And why has it stuck around?

BONUS READ: ‘Spinster’ and ‘Bachelor’ Were, Until 2005, Official Terms for Single People via Smithsonian Magazine.

Demanding bosses, impossible workloads, 24/7 email—no wonder many employees feel they have no time outside work to find love.

BONUS READ: Single Workers Aren’t There to Pick up the Slack for Their Married Bosses and Colleagues via Quartz.

Almost a third of adult single men live with a parent.

BONUS READ: I Was a “Male Spinster” via Salon.

A study shows some women downplay their ambitions to find a partner.

The word ‘spinster’ is still freighted with pity and misogyny, yet the number of women living this way is growing. It’s time to reconsider what it means to be ‘never-married’.

BONUS READ: The Women Who Are Involuntary Celibates via The Guardian.

Investigating the disparities and pinpointing how we can do better to support all solo parents.

The world is rigged for Black women’s loneliness and isolation. Here’s how to decolonize love.

You never see your friends at home alone in their pajamas, watching The X Factor, and feeling sorry for themselves.

In reality, it’s the idea of marrying for love that’s untraditional.

Through their networks of friends, singles are strengthening society’s social bonds.

BONUS READ: The Rise of Platonic Co-Parenting via The Guardian.

Group tour companies are accommodating more and more solo travelers, who are looking for company—and someone else to handle the complexities of traveling during the pandemic.

BONUS READ: On Breakups and Taking Your Dream Adventure Solo via Outside.

There’s a reason why the most lucrative forms of popular culture continue to ask questions about how men and women should be (or not be) together—it’s because we haven’t got it right yet.

“Loneliness is difficult to confess; difficult too to categorize. Like depression, a state with which it often intersects, it can run deep in the fabric of a person.”

BONUS READ: May Sarton’s Stunning 1938 Ode to Solitude via The Marginalian.

Defy society’s singlism and discover ways to embrace a joyful, independent life.

If two’s company and three’s a crowd, maybe now one is the magic number in the kitchen.