Ok so I'll start this post by saying I am coming at this from a CRAZY position of privilege and maybe this is only true given my social group. I went to a top 10 non-ivy for undergrad, have a professional degree, own a home in one of the 5 biggest cities in the USA, and make six figures. But I feel like, numerically, more unmarried millennial women are a) employed and b) have higher salaries through that employment than their male counterparts. I only know THREE married millennial women who have salaries more than 40K lower than their husbands' (and two of them are south asian, stay based queens). All of my girlfriends in relationships, who are "single" for tax purposes (never forget), significantly out-earn their boyfriends or are 50/50. I say this having been inspired by the achingly lovely post expressing frustration with not finding a HVM partner despite truly wanting one, something I feel many of us here on FDS can relate to. Still, I've reached a point of acceptance that my chances of 'finding someone' are low because of my income and height (lol). Not zero, but very low! Now that said, I still 'have fun' with men - I can date and go out with whoever I like. It is nice, as a straight woman, to have the validation of being desired by hot guys, even if temporarily (plz don't have sex with them or let them in your house tho lol). However, I've realized most men are not suitable for me long-term based on income and height alone, before we get to personality or personal values compatibility. Most can't even afford a second date! This points to a reality that has long been true in the Black American community, but now seems to have widened to all ethnicities - there is a shortage of single, employed men earning family-supporting wages. With this knowledge can we stop wringing our hands about not finding an HVM and just accept that statistically the women of our and future generations are probably not gonna do it due to men giving up? I'm really not a pessimist. Men might get it together, but they have to level up by themselves. In the meantime, I just hate to see so many women so, so sad. To quote Germaine Greer "The absurdity of the notion that there is someone 'out there' for everybody is obvious to anyone who as thought about it for more than five seconds. Women's lives would be a lot easier if they started from the opposite premise, that there is nobody 'out there' and the might as well get on with life..." I say this with love and deep understanding of the grief that comes with accepting these realities, especially when we were all sold the idea (by a male run media) that a nuclear family and marriage were and are the pinnacle of personal fulfilment and happiness. But what if we raised girls to think about men as mostly unsuitable and unreliable. Good perhaps for satisfying one's sexual impulses and even then only on a woman's terms, and not worth investing much time and energy in beyond that unless the man himself goes above and beyond? How different would our lives be if we STARTED from decentering men rather than having to learn it after being abused, manipulated, and disappointed by man after man after man because we erroneously believe that many of them are our equals. Just some food for thought.
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No not all millennial women. Definitely not me, but I'm working on it.