3 ms·

> What does it even mean to “drop out of the labor force”? They literally decided life was better without working anymore? I've contemplated this before. I ask

by vinyl7 4y ago

> What does it even mean to “drop out of the labor force”? They literally decided life was better without working anymore? I've contemplated this before. I ask my self, is the effort of going to a job for 40+ hours a week and dealing with that stress worth it if it's not enabling me to do what I want (buy a house, raise a family...you know standard human things)? The asinine housing and rental markets and difficulties finding a mate are really the two driving forces I see that would drive men to quit playing the game.

midoridensha 4y ago
All these comments (and I guess the article too) seem to only focus on men, and completely ignore whatever is happening with women. Obviously, there's approximately as many women as there are men (in fact, at older ages, women outnumber men since men tend to die early). I'm not female, so I can only offer limited insight here, but what I've observed with single women over 40 is that they basically don't need men, though many of them lament that they didn't get to have children, and many even keep talking about having some up until about 50, which seems to be the point they usually give up. However, aside from that, they seem to have healthier social lives than single men in the same age group: they're much better about cultivating friendships (normally with other women, but not always) and pursuing extracurricular interests. At some point, they realize that finding a partner is actually not in their best interest, because if you're a 50 year old woman, it's likely only 55+ and usually 60+ men will be interested in dating you, and for a woman that means a guy who's probably very conservative (likely a Trumper), which doesn't appeal to as many women, and worse than that, a guy who she's basically going to have to take care of pretty soon since he'll be older and likely in poor health. So it's really not worth it unless he's got one foot in the grave and one on a banana peel and has a lot of financial assets that she stands to inherit in exchange for becoming his caregiver for an indeterminate amount of time. So what I've seen is basically a lot of women also opting out of families and marriage (by not settling), and leading individualistic lives with their female friend groups, enjoying their independence, traveling, etc. >if it's not enabling me to do what I want (buy a house, raise a family...you know standard human things)? I think, pretty soon, "raising a family" isn't going to be considered a "standard human thing". The current situation is simply unsustainable: not enough people are having kids to keep the population level stable and keep the economy going. So something is going to have to change, in a big way. I predict the society of "Brave New World" is going to become the norm, where the government mostly handles procreation and child-raising.
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  Citation: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/25/women-happier-without-children-or-a-spouse-happiness-expert https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/25/women-h...

by vinyl7 4y ago

midoridensha 4y ago

All these comments (and I guess the article too) seem to only focus on men, and completely ignore whatever is happening with women. Obviously, there's approximately as many women as there are men (in fact, at older ages, women outnumber men since men tend to die early). I'm not female, so I can only offer limited insight here, but what I've observed with single women over 40 is that they basically don't need men, though many of them lament that they didn't get to have children, and many even keep talking about having some up until about 50, which seems to be the point they usually give up. However, aside from that, they seem to have healthier social lives than single men in the same age group: they're much better about cultivating friendships (normally with other women, but not always) and pursuing extracurricular interests. At some point, they realize that finding a partner is actually not in their best interest, because if you're a 50 year old woman, it's likely only 55+ and usually 60+ men will be interested in dating you, and for a woman that means a guy who's probably very conservative (likely a Trumper), which doesn't appeal to as many women, and worse than that, a guy who she's basically going to have to take care of pretty soon since he'll be older and likely in poor health. So it's really not worth it unless he's got one foot in the grave and one on a banana peel and has a lot of financial assets that she stands to inherit in exchange for becoming his caregiver for an indeterminate amount of time. So what I've seen is basically a lot of women also opting out of families and marriage (by not settling), and leading individualistic lives with their female friend groups, enjoying their independence, traveling, etc. >if it's not enabling me to do what I want (buy a house, raise a family...you know standard human things)? I think, pretty soon, "raising a family" isn't going to be considered a "standard human thing". The current situation is simply unsustainable: not enough people are having kids to keep the population level stable and keep the economy going. So something is going to have to change, in a big way. I predict the society of "Brave New World" is going to become the norm, where the government mostly handles procreation and child-raising.

toomuchtodo 4y ago
Citation: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/25/women-happier-without-children-or-a-spouse-happiness-expert https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/25/women-h...