Strollerderby
Bland Ambition: Why Women with Children Settle
Should you marry for love or diaper duty? Lori Gottlieb thinks the latter. She’s a single 40-year old woman who had a child with a sperm donor and writes a cautionary tale of woe about single motherhood — dateless, hairy, tiring.
The idea that women as they age have fewer choices in mates, especially when you throw in a rug rat or 3, is not particularly news. It’s always better to stay a woman in your 20s if you can help it (and everyone knows you can).
Remember the one about how a 40-something woman was more likely to be killed by a terrorist than get married? Fear mongering to keep women in line. It’s alive and well.
After all, women age and after 35 it’s all over (beauty, admiration, lovely adoring men). Men, on the other hand, can have a belly and a bald head and 4 children by 3 different women and still be a catch.
And while the predicament of the single mother is not to be envied, neither is the woman trapped in a loveless marriage. Women settle because they are taught to settle. Those who don’t are beaten into submission by scare tactics and threats of growing old alone, which couldn’t possibly be worse than growing old alone with someone you don’t love. Could it?
Go Back To Strollerderby
1 Comment
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amDang! I’d love to take my belly, balding dome – and get away from my 3 children, 2 ex-wives, and throngs of adoring younger women for some ALONE time!
All I need is a sex-change operation?
Add your take:
Note: Babble is a supportive, diverse community. We encourage a range of opinions,
but any unduly hostile comments will be removed.
Comments are delayed up to 15 minutes
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.