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Politics : Did Slick Boink Monica? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: lorrie coey who wrote (19512)11/12/1998 9:49:00 AM
From: Richnorth  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 20981
 

Don't you think lotsa' young women should have listened to Abigail?

kreative.net

Why Aren't You Married?

Q Dear Miss Abigail:

What are some good responses for a single woman to use
when she is constantly hassled about her non-marital status,
for example, "You are so young, and beautiful, why aren't
you married?" I have found that my own personal response
of "I like my independence, dammit!" has proven inadequate.
Please help!

Signed,
Independent and Proud of It

A Dear Independent:

I'm there with you, baby! It is hard to imagine, in this day and
age, that one would have to explain to rude inquisitors why
one's life is the way it is. But sadly, single men and women
are frequently forced into such a conversation.

Most of my books only discuss the normal path ~ teens start
dating, and that leads to marriage. Easy as pie, right? So I
don't have an easy response for you, sweetie. But maybe
these words will help you realize that you are not alone. I find
the "marriage is absurd" observation quite charming.

1965: Absurdity

Marriage is a paradox second only to life itself. That at
the age of twenty or so, with little knowledge of each
other and a dangerous overdose of self-confidence, two
human beings should undertake to commit themselves for life
~ and that church and state should receive their vows with a
straight face ~ all this is absurd indeed. And it is tolerable
only if it is reveled in as such. A pox on all the neat little
explanations as to why it is reasonable that two teenagers
should be bound to each other until death. It is not
reasonable. It happens to be true to life, but it remains
absurd. Down with the books that moralize reasonably on
the subject of why divorce is wrong. Divorce is not a wrong;
it is a metaphysical impossibility. It is an attempt to do
something about life rather than with it ~ to work out the
square root of –I rather than to use it.

Source: Bed and Board: Plain Talk about Marriage
~p.16~

1971: Why is it that some women never marry?

The answer isn't easy. Among the sweetest words any
woman ever hears are, "Will you marry me, darling?"
Yet there are more than nine million American women, who
have never heard these words at all ~ or if they have, weren't
listening. The vast majority of them are healthy, intelligent,
attractive human beings who are directing the course of their
lives stubbornly against the tide of society. To do something
as drastic and as difficult as that, they must have some pretty
good reasons.

Our American way of life is designed, like Noah's Art, for
those who march two-by-two. Nearly every form of
entertainment from sports cars to king-sized beds is designed
for the mutual enjoyment of a man and a woman. At parties,
at clubs, at bars, at virtually every pleasurable activity in this
land of supreme pleasures, a woman alone feels and is made
to feel out of tune with the rest of the world. . . .

What effect does this have on a single woman?

In this country every woman who is not married by the age of
twenty-one is treated as if she were suffering from a
progressive disease that makes the bubonic plaque seem like
a bad cold. Until the age of thirty, the chances of recovery
are considered favorable and the victim is allowed to mingle
freely with the rest of society. As the years slip by the
outlook dims and the period of quarantine begins. Those of
her friends who are engaged or going steady, and the natural
elite who are already married, slowly withdraw to avoid
becoming contaminated.

After the age of thirty she is the topic of hushed conversation.
"Did you know that Ellen is thirty-one and doesn't even have
a steady boyfriend?" This is the equivalent of saying, "I just
heard from Ellen's doctor ~ the poor dear has only a few
months to live!"