The overwhelming majority of single women who voted last week did so with the intent of doing the Republicans harm. According to CNN exit polls, a full 68 percent of single women voted for Democrats in the midterms, with only 31 percent voting Republican. That’s a gap of 37 points.
Naturally, Republicans have responded to this news not by trying to figure out how to appeal to this particular demographic but by vilifying single women as miserable, lonely spinsters clinging to their cats.
This guy is the managing editor of the alleged humor site, the Babylon Bee, by the way.
The Daily Caller, meanwhile, attacked single women as “Lonely Wine Karens Ruining Our Country,” asking its readers to “picture an ex-librarian who drinks boxed wine while listening to Joni Mitchell.” Never mind that the average single woman in America, far from being a middle-aged ex-librarian wine Karen, is 29 years old.
The biggest irony of the whole Republican argument, such as it is, is that single women aren’t the lonely, miserable, alcoholic spinsters of right-wing fantasy. On the contrary, studies have shown that childless single women are, on average, happier than married women with children. And men, especially those who haven’t married. So it’s no wonder it’s mostly men who are decrying falling marriage rates.
In a recent talk, London School of Economics behavioral science professor Paul Dolan put it this way:
If you’re a man, you should probably get married; if you’re a woman, don’t bother.
[Married men] earn more money at work, and you live a little longer. She, on the other hand, has to put up with that, and dies sooner than if she never married. The healthiest and happiest population subgroup are women who never married or had children.
And the election results are making single American women even happier.
Also, I don’t know if you know this, but cats are great.
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Hey, if you can tell me whether Asimov really does have a book in every Dewey Decimal System number I’ll bring the wine.
If their only alternative is marrying a MAGAt, they’ve come out ahead.
You know how cats spend a good portion of their time awake doing?
Grooming!
I just had a thought. (First time for everything.)
Women who choose the traditional marriage with kiddos are making a sacrifice for the good of their spouses and the furthering of society through reproduction. Should they not be recognized and honored for this?
I mean, we could provide excellent support and medical care for them and their offspring… nah, how about a medal? That sounds like something the people quoted above would endorse.
*This post contains a small amount of sarcasm. Please handle with care. Owners not responsible for injuries or damages.
@.45:
Women who choose the traditional marriage with kiddos are making a sacrifice for the good of their spouses and the furthering of society through reproduction. Should they not be recognized and honored for this?
I mean, we could provide excellent support and medical care for them and their offspring… nah, how about a medal? That sounds like something the people quoted above would endorse.
I presume you have in mind something along these lines?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Heroine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_trium_liberorum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Honour_of_the_German_Mother
It’s back!
I notice that despite David’s title, they’re focusing on unmarried women as opposed to single women. I’m unmarried, but currently not single. Even if I was single, dating’s it’s own kind of fun – I’m baffled at the idea that “wandering from partner to partner” could be “miserable”, though I acknowledge that it might be true for some people. And even if I were married, I can’t imagine what the Republican* party would have to offer me. I don’t think they quite get cause and effect here, so their imagination doesn’t match up with reality.
*I absentmindedly typed “Republican” as “Problem” which was kind of funny.
@galanx:
And note that the long-term cash bonus comes with an escape clause:
Once it comes back in existence, a payment of 1 million rubles ($16,500) will be given to Russian mothers once their 10th child turns one, if all have survived.
Your five oldest sons died in Ukraine before they ever got to meet your little change-of-life surprise? Too bad, so sad.
From what I can tell, cats love women far more then conservative men do
Their responses show just how misogynist the US right is.
There’s no Asimov book in the 100s in the Dewey Decimal system. Apparently he didn’t write about philosophy. Or no one thought he did.
Salon claims it’s directly linked to “great replacement” paranoia:
https://www.salon.com/2022/11/15/why-did-women-voted-for-democrats-have-an-asinine-theory/
@Mimi Haha: Heh. I know for a fact that I have heard discussions between philosophers about the laws of robotics. Pretty sure one could link his work to ethics & transhumanism, for instance.
But still. Interesting.
@Mimi Haha; @Battering Lamb:
There’s no Asimov book in the 100s in the Dewey Decimal system. Apparently he didn’t write about philosophy. Or no one thought he did.
However! Asimov does have a work assigned a Dewey Decimal number in the 100’s: he narrated the American Humanist Society video Humanism: Making Bigger Circles.
https://ddc.typepad.com/025431/2005/09/isaac_and_melvi.html
Not all of us single childless women have cats – some of us have rats! And his love isn’t conditional on how much I weigh or whether I make his friends jealous. He doesn’t try to control what I wear or where I go or what I think and he doesn’t tell me I’m a bad person for eating junk food or yell that I’m being lazy if I want a little lie down. He doesn’t tell me I’m a horrible monster for supporting a woman’s right to get an abortion. He doesn’t tell me women are all a bunch of hypochondriacs looking for attention. He just wants me to play with him, feed him, and love him back. And he’s always cute, regardless of what’s happening or what he’s doing.
Pfft…I’m married, vote Democrat AND have cats! I WIN~!!!!!
(wait…I’m still stuck in Ohio — FUCK!)
David wrote:
Snowberry wrote:
I’m entirely lost on who exactly are we counting here as “unmarried”. I’ve certainly noticed before that US conservatives tend to take statistics about unmarried women and conflate them with “single women” for scaremongering purposes.
I see that the poll results quoted above distinguish only two categories of marital status. AFAIK, here in Finland official statistics on marital status distinguish five categories: currently in marriage, divorced, widowed, cohabiting (probably meaning someone who’s never married) and unmarried (probably meaning someone who’s never married and isn’t currently romantically cohabiting). I’d presume that never-married adults are disproportionately very young, whereas divorced and especially widowed adults (who haven’t remarried) are disproportionately old.
Conservatives don’t have sex after marriage, so they think marriage solves the issue of women needing abortions.
(More seriously, US conservatives seem to mainly think that marriage solves the issue of families being poor, the issue of fathers being absent/deadbeat/incarcerated and the issue of women needing to be precise in their family planning.)
@Yutolia
Rats are also much easier to carry around on your shoulders.
And studies have shown that rats, unlike conservatives, possess empathy.
I’m married, but we have two cats. However the cats are both female and, to the best of my knowledge, unmarried. Also they enjoy catnip recreationally. Neither one has ever worked as a librarian.
@Lumipuna:
Technically we only have two categories in the US, legally at least, and those are “married” and “single”. Doesn’t matter if you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, you are still legally considered single. I think it’s pretty limiting.
@Allandrel:
The empathy thing is definitely a way that rats are far superior to conservatives! And yeah, although he would be easy to put on my shoulder in theory, in reality I’m super ticklish there so to avoid accidentally knocking him off, I just hold him against my chest.
Rats are delightful. Everything I learn about those little guys makes me like them more. Wouldn’t want a rat infestation in my home mind you, but that goes for mice too. And mice aren’t nearly as cool.
Of course, they had to fit in a slam against librarians in there. Librarians promote reading, reading promotes learning and empathy, and that’s not good for the GOP.
I’ve seen enough of these accounts now advocating for stripping unmarried childless women of the right to vote. That is how pro-democracy, pro-freedom, pro-choice these assclowns really are.
I’ll take my cat over these hateful losers.
First of all, LOL at the idea that any Republican would ever lift a finger to help somebody who couldn’t afford to buy groceries or gas up their car.
Second, I definitely read a study some years back demonstrating that most women seeking abortions in the US are married or in a long-term relationship, and the most common reason for wanting an abortion is “this pregnancy would make me unable to support the children I already have.”
Having a child is a huge financial burden, and Republicans have done their best to increase that burden by opposing everything from paid parental leave to free school lunches to any form of social benefits. Now they’re all “b-b-b-but THE ECONOMY!!!!” as if reproductive choice isn’t a major economic issue.
He does know babies eat a lot of groceries, yes?