Advice to Single Women: Marry Your Plumber

 

shutterstock_292260317There are, according to all demographic surveys, not enough single men. From Vice:

There simply aren’t enough college-educated men to go around. For every four college-educated women in my generation, there are three college-educated men. The result? What Birger calls a “musical chairs” of the heart: As the men pair off with partners, unpartnered straight women are left with fewer and fewer options—and millions of them are eventually left with no options at all.

Wait. Let me rephrase that. There are not enough single college-educated men. Almost 35 percent more women than men graduated from college last year. Women outnumber men in law school and medical school. In the college class of 2023, women will outnumber men by 47 percent!

So where are all the men? They’re around. Just not, you know, in college. From Vice:

Among non-college-educated singles ages 22 to 29, there are 9.4 million men and 7.1 million women. And if you look at the women in that age group who are non-college-educated, something like 30 percent of the women are married but only 22 percent of the men are married.

The solution, obviously, is for more women to pair off with more non-college-educated men — for, in other words, college women to marry working class guys.

But class lines in America can be both unspoken and difficult to surmount. The number of single women in large cities who would not dream of marrying a working class man (who, perhaps, earns less) is probably large but also probably beside the point. Where, for instance, do those two classes of people mingle and meet in the supposedly “classless” America?

Have we created such an exalted position in this society for the college degree that a “mixed marriage” is unthinkable? And isn’t it possible (maybe even probable) that such a marriage might be stronger and more lasting than the two-degree kind?

Published in Education, Marriage
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  1. Fake John Galt Coolidge
    Fake John Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Chuck Enfield:

    Vicryl Contessa:

    Chuck Enfield:Sorry Dubya, but I gotta disagree here. Women, as opposed to girls, like men who can do stuff. I’m not saying that some trades aren’t sexier than others, but if your high-end furniture builder considers himself an “artiste” who is above getting his hands dirty around the house, most women will prefer the plumber.

    Help me out here ladies. I need this one. I live by Red Green’s motto, “If women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.”

    Yes, women like men that are competent. Competence is a big turn on for me. If you’re hair is thinning but you can run your own cable, you just got infinitely sexier. And for me, if a guy don’t know how to shoot a gun, forget it.

    Did I mention that I’m a balding, telecommunications professional with an infantry background? How do you feel about middle-aged, overweight, and mild OCD? If that works for you I may have to leave my wife.

    Can’t speak for her but it is working for me.

    • #121
  2. Duane Oyen Member
    Duane Oyen
    @DuaneOyen

    Vicryl Contessa:Duane-I really hope that is the nickname for your wife and not an actual yellow duck that you have some strange love for.

    It dates back to 1973 and a little dance she did for me while singing a silly pop song.

    • #122
  3. Fake John Galt Coolidge
    Fake John Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    This just in.
    https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/insight-therapy/201510/is-marriage-worth-it-women

    Here is some “science” that indicates that marriage is actually bad for womyn.

    • #123
  4. Bkelley14 Inactive
    Bkelley14
    @Bkelley14

    Two distinct phrases: pot head; couch potato. Young women today who take their academics seriously, who enjoy joining college organizations, who are natural students, who are go-getters, who are doers, etc. don’t find “pot heads” and “couch potatoes” very sexy or appealing. And that is, unfortunately, a wide swath of college and post college guys.

    • #124
  5. Douglas Inactive
    Douglas
    @Douglas

    Bkelley14:Two distinct phrases: pot head; couch potato. Young women today who take their academics seriously, who enjoy joining college organizations, who are natural students, who are go-getters, who are doers, etc. don’t find “pot heads” and “couch potatoes” very sexy or appealing. And that is, unfortunately, a wide swath of college and post college guys.

    There’s some truth to that, but you can also thank the culture for that as well, a culture that denigrates manhood, and attempts to turn men into neuters while turning women into half-***ed men. There’s a lot of evidence that young males… they’re not men, that word means something… are simply dropping out of the process altogether. They’re getting easy sex, their former roles are becoming verboten, so screw it, take a toke, pass the Cheetos, and lets use up those Xbox points. Mom’s couch feels just fine.

    If women wonder “Where did all the men go?”, they need to direct that question to the feminists in their sisterhood.

    • #125
  6. Vicryl Contessa Thatcher
    Vicryl Contessa
    @VicrylContessa

    Douglas:

    Bkelley14:Two distinct phrases: pot head; couch potato. Young women today who take their academics seriously, who enjoy joining college organizations, who are natural students, who are go-getters, who are doers, etc. don’t find “pot heads” and “couch potatoes” very sexy or appealing. And that is, unfortunately, a wide swath of college and post college guys.

    There’s some truth to that, but you can also thank the culture for that as well, a culture that denigrates manhood, and attempts to turn men into neuters while turning women into half-***ed men. There’s a lot of evidence that young males… they’re not men, that word means something… are simply dropping out of the process altogether. They’re getting easy sex, their former roles are becoming verboten, so screw it, take a toke, pass the Cheetos, and lets use up those Xbox points. Mom’s couch feels just fine.

    If women wonder “Where did all the men go?”, they need to direct that question to the feminists in their sisterhood.

    Oh my gosh. Preach, brother! Preach!

    • #126
  7. Bkelley14 Inactive
    Bkelley14
    @Bkelley14

    Where are the young college educated women working their professional jobs (which they worked hard to obtain, let’s not forget) supposed to find open-minded, conversant, socially flexible and adaptable blue-collar men?

    • #127
  8. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    Bkelley14:Where are the young college educated women working their professional jobs (which they worked hard to obtain, let’s not forget) supposed to find open-minded, conversant, socially flexible and adaptable blue-collar men?

    Are you suggesting that blue-collar men are seldom “open-minded, conversant, socially flexible and adaptable?”

    • #128
  9. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    Joseph Stanko:

    Bkelley14:Where are the young college educated women working their professional jobs (which they worked hard to obtain, let’s not forget) supposed to find open-minded, conversant, socially flexible and adaptable blue-collar men?

    Are you suggesting that blue-collar men are seldom “open-minded, conversant, socially flexible and adaptable?”

    That is definitely more stereotype than universal truth, but I don’t think the stereotype is completely without warrant.

    • #129
  10. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    Joseph Stanko:

    Bkelley14:Where are the young college educated women working their professional jobs (which they worked hard to obtain, let’s not forget) supposed to find open-minded, conversant, socially flexible and adaptable blue-collar men?

    Are you suggesting that blue-collar men are seldom “open-minded, conversant, socially flexible and adaptable?”

    I understand Bkelley14 to be saying only that wherever such men are, and there could be many, the white collar woman will have a hard time finding them.

    • #130
  11. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Bkelley14:Where are the young college educated women working their professional jobs (which they worked hard to obtain, let’s not forget) supposed to find open-minded, conversant, socially flexible and adaptable blue-collar men?

    Online dating, like Match.com.  Among other criteria such as age range, geographical distance, and many others, there is probably still criteria where you can select minimum education.  Check high school instead of bachelor’s degree.

    • #131
  12. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    Randy Weivoda: Online dating, like Match.com.  Among other criteria such as age range, geographical distance, and many others, there is probably still criteria where you can select minimum education.  Check high school instead of bachelor’s degree.

    In order to facilitate Rob’s advice they should add an option to select maximum education level.

    • #132
  13. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Joseph Stanko:

    Randy Weivoda: Online dating, like Match.com. Among other criteria such as age range, geographical distance, and many others, there is probably still criteria where you can select minimum education. Check high school instead of bachelor’s degree.

    In order to facilitate Rob’s advice they should add an option to select maximum education level.

    My take was that Rob wasn’t suggesting that college-educated women should avoid college-educated men, just that they should broaden their horizons and not disqualify men who went straight to work after high school.

    • #133
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