Life in the Boomer Lane, in perusing her weekly issue of Time, bypassed articles about all manner of significant news to share with loyal readers, and focused, instead, on the following: “There are now four college-grad women for every three college grad men among Americans ages 22-29.” And, as the years go by, the disparity will only get worse. This lopsided state of affairs has resulted in young women having fewer affairs than they want to. Fewer affairs lead to the prospect of fewer marital partners.
And it gets worse. Time notes that “Classism is bigger than racism in dating.” In other words, classism drives dating choices. So a college-educated woman, in the likelihood of not finding a college-educated man to date, isn’t likely to dip down into the pool of blue-collar singles for prospects. And college educated men, faced with a smorgasbord of nubile young women who have all discussed Chaucer and experienced binge drinking, are less likely to want to grab just one partner and hold on. The result is fewer real relationships, all around.
LBL knows what you are thinking, that, since you left your twenties in the dust, along with your bell bottom pants and your never-ending libido, why should you care? People in their twenties are self-absorbed nitwits, who think technology is fun and who can text really fast. But you are wrong. LBL has gone where this article has not.
While the article leaves us with the image of countless twenty-something women sitting home on Saturday night and binge-watching The Walking Dead, the reality is that it won’t take these women long to start competing for eligible thirty-something men. And thirty-something women, facing more competition, will turn their sights toward forty-something men. You get the picture here. If you are a single boomer woman, your days are numbered. If you spend you time complaining that there are no good single men out there, you haven’t seen anything yet.
And don’t dream of converting to Mormonism or Orthodox Jewry to solve your problem, or relocating to another part of the world. Time notes that “Mormon women outnumber men by a significant margin. The same is true in many Orthodox Jewish communities.” Before long, these women will be competing for your men, as well. The World Bank reports that “women in the MENA region (Middle East/North Africa) are more likely than men to attend university.”
What’s a single boomer woman to do? While there’s always the option of hanging out at retirement homes, LBL suspects that the situation for single boomer women will remain dire.
The New York Post, in its own article about this international crisis, does provide one small ray of hope: “People who leave organized religion are disproportionately male. Atheists and agnostics are also disproportionately male. An atheist meet-up would be a really good place to meet men.”
btg5885
August 31, 2015
I can see a future marketing tagline for the Atheist and Agnostics – “Come see us, we are just horny devils.”
Life in the Boomer Lane
September 1, 2015
I love it.
Sidney Chan
August 31, 2015
I am so hopeful that your trickle-up effect theory is right, Renee. My confirmation bias tells me it makes a lot of sense.
Life in the Boomer Lane
September 1, 2015
One can always dream, right?
Jackie
August 31, 2015
How scientifically saddening. I guess I’d better work like the dickens to hold on to what I’ve got, for fear I’m fishing in the void.
Life in the Boomer Lane
September 1, 2015
I’m sure that many marriages survive, simply because of this.
geezenslaw
September 1, 2015
Howdy LBL, after quite some time of mulling this one over and reading the Future-First-Lady hoot I decided against my better judgement to reply. As some of your readers have noted you are relying a lot (maybe too much) on the stats and numbers. Not to say the stats and numbers are wrong. They are not. To concur with your conclusion about attending an Atheist group was either a good guess or you met your husband in one. And, this brings me to my point: 1. what may be more palatable to your readers is a so-called: AAFT (Atheists, Agnostice and Free Thinkers) group. 2. I met a Sephardic Jewish woman not in the AAFT she belonged to but as a consequence of her membership in the AAFT. Since she was 10 years younger than me she decided old men with a B.S. just don’t cut-it and now has a boyfriend 5 years younger that is a blue collar guy. So, yes the gals may have to get more creative and work at the problem more than in the past I still believe women have the advantage if they just take or make the opportunities.
Anonymous
October 9, 2016
How is dating not rigged against men? Men ask women out 99.9% of the times? Women get offended when you hit on them, Men pay of dates.