3 ms·
> Eighty-two percent of the women in Inhorn’s sample were single, “with no partner in sight” (p. 19). In their own words, they were using egg freezing to “buy t
by david-gpu 2y ago
> Eighty-two percent of the women in Inhorn’s sample were single, “with no partner in sight” (p. 19). In their own words, they were using egg freezing to “buy time” and hold onto their dream of heterosexual marriage with biologically related children. These women were a notably high achieving group: one-third of her sample had attended an Ivy League institution and nearly 80% had advanced degrees.
It seems like the central question is: why do they lack a partner? Some possible explanations could be:
1- They are too picky
2- They are undesirable to potential partners
3- They are unwilling or unable to mingle with potential partners
The author of the article seems to blame men for not being interested in these high-performing women (i.e. reason #2 above), while Inhorn seems to suggest some balance between #1 and #2.
While I don't belong to the cohort under discussion, I used to be very focused on my career and would not have been able to find a partner had I not met my wife in college.
In other words, I don't think reason #3 should be dismissed without further data, although personally I suspect reason #1 is also much more common than #2.
- antisthenes 2y agoIf you follow the dating statistic of women going for the top 20% of men, it makes sense that 80% of women would be left with no long-term partner. You can interpret that however you like (natural selection, being picky, 80% of men not being high enough quality, etc.), but the raw statistics are there.
- sva_ 2y agoI know a bunch of women at ivy league universities that can't find a partner and would say it is definitely mostly (1). The article seems to put its main focus on men feeling their manlihood threatened if the woman has a more accomplished career, but I'd point out that these women perceive a significant social pressure that they're able to find a man that is more accomplished than them. In fact I'm in that kind of position myself, and it doesn't feel threatening to me at all.
- jvandreae 2y agoI think all three contribute, not necessarily equally. Anecdotally, I'd probably weight it at 2:1:1, but I imagine it varies a lot by individual and location.
- JojoFatsani 2y agoPicky? Thou dost protest too much