Good news for single women between the ages of 25 and 44 -- not only are you a booming demographic, but you also might not be a poor and luckless lonelyheart. Go figure. All this, and you get your own buzzword, too! According to the Guardian:
"'Freemales' -- manless women who are happy to remain so for the present at least -- are now a force to be reckoned with and are overturning the dated Bridget Jones image of the lonely woman staring despondently at an empty Chardonnay bottle. They are too busy living life to the full to make time for 'Mr Mediocre' and the last thing on their minds is, 'Will I find Mr Right today?'"
Well, good for them. I'm always skeptical of these trend pieces, but it's nice to hear news stories about women who are actually happy with their current situation. Too many articles depict a stricken, desperate existence for us single women. (Lori Gottlieb, anyone?) But not all single women are fumbling for the panic button. In fact, a new report in Britain states that while the number of women living alone between 25 and 44 doubled in the past two decades, "more than two-thirds of people questioned in a recent survey believed they did not need a partner to enjoy a happy and fulfilled life."
Now, let's admit that "freemales" is a terrible buzzword. It sounds like the kind of account you get when you join Yahoo. (I have been amusing myself by pronouncing the word like "tamale." Sorry, just living life to the fullest! You know how we freemales get!) Apparently, I am on the "terrible buzzword" beat: It was only last week I wrote about "thrisis," the acute anxiety of mid-thirtysomethings freaking out about their future. But since we do so much reporting on what is tough and frustrating and painful about being a woman, I thought it was worthwhile to hear that some news, dumb buzzword notwithstanding, isn't so bad. As one single woman quoted in the article noted: "It's not difficult being single. It's not lonely. It's pleasurable."
By the way, in my experience, it is occasionally difficult being single. Rumor has it, that's true of marriage, too.
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