Singlehood, Hanging out, Hooking up, and Cohabitation

1. Singlehood, Hanging out, Hooking up, and Cohabitation Chapter 4

2. Singlehood • Individuals are staying single longer in America and Abroad. • Yet 95% of Americans eventually marry • What are the primary advantages of staying single? • How does marriage limit your freedom? • Are individuals who stay single discriminated against in American society? How? Are there stereotypes about men and women who stay single into their 30’s? 40’s? 50’s? • Do others consider you mature if you remain single, opt not to have kids, and instead use your money and time to do other things? • Are we socialized to seek and enjoy being in a relationship?

3. Why are people staying single longer? • What cultural factors influence decision?

4. The Acceptance of Singlehood • Acceptance of singlehood as a lifestyle can be attributed to social movements: • Sexual Revolution • Women’s Movement • Gay Liberation movement

5. Staying Single • Macro-Level Factors • Things over which we have little or no control affect our decisions about marriage: • war • technology • social movements • the economy • gender roles

6. Staying Single • Individual (micro-level) reasons • Waiting for a “soul mate” • Being independent • Enjoying close relationships with peers • Not wanting to make a commitment • Having children • Fearing divorce • Being healthy and physically attractive

7. Alternatives to Marriage Project • Mission Statement: • To advocate “for equality and fairness for unmarried people, including people who are single, choose not to marry, cannot marry, or live together before marriage”.

8. Ways of Finding a Partner • M & F sociologists are interested in the question: How do people find each other and get together and how has this process changed overtime along with cultural norms? • Do individuals search for mates differently then they did in the past? • Is dating dead? Does traditional dating still exist? • What role has technology played in these changes?

9. The dating spectrum • In traditional dating, males and females follow clear, culturally defined gender role scripts, at least among the middle class. • What does the traditional date look like? Who plans? Who drives? Who pays? • Are there sexual expectations that accompany paying for the date?

10. Ways of finding a partner • Hanging out • Refers to going out in groups where the agenda is to meet others and have fun. • Hooking up • A one-time sexual encounter in which there is little or no expectation of a relationship. • The nature of the encounter may be making out, oral sex, and/or sexual intercourse. • If an individual is hooking up with one person, is it OK to hook up with others?

11. What are the advantages and disadvantages of internet dating?

12. Meeting a New Partner • The Internet—Meeting Online • There are over 1000 Web sites designed for meeting a new partner. • Primary advantage: Efficiency • The Internet: The downside • Do people portray themselves accurately online? • What do women and men emphasize about themselves? • Is there social stigma about searching for mates online?

13. Cohabitation • Also known as living together. • Becoming a “normative life experience”. • Almost 60% of U.S. women who married in the 1990s reported that they had cohabited before marriage. • Who disapproves of cohabitation?

14. Why do people cohabitate?

15. Types of Cohabitation • 8 types?

16. Consequences of Cohabitation • Advantages • Sense of well being, delayed marriage, knowledge about self and partner, and safety • Is cohabitation a better option than marriage? • Disadvantages?

17. Cohabitation • Disadvantages • Feeling used or tricked-Gender differences • Problems with parents • Economic disadvantages • Effects on children

18. Living Apart Together • A committed couple who does not live in the same home • Would you consider living apart while married? • Why or why not