No Lack of Marriageable Men

From a WSJ book review:

‘The Two-Parent Privilege’ Review: Where Have All the Good Men Gone?

Children fare better when they grow up with both parents—no surprise. But sometimes mothers have no choice but to go it alone. ... Enter “The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind,” Melissa Kearney’s clear-eyed look at the economic impact of having a second parent at home. ...

When it comes to the economic well-being of children, she argues, having two parents really is better than one—on average.

What is driving these changes? Among other factors, Ms. Kearney refers to the lack of “marriageable men,” ...

Overall, Ms. Kearney makes a compelling case that we should be concerned about the rising rate of single-parent households, at least from the perspective of child well-being. The solution is more complicated. Noting that “so many men seem to be less than ideal marriage partners,”

Blaming men for bad mothering gets tiresome. Most of the comments are negative, such as:

I take exception to the author's premise of "marriageable men." She fails to recognize that most of these women bring nothing to the relationship other than an unplanned baby, owning nothing more than an exceptionally low credit score and dependence on welfare assistance and EBT cards.

We can blame it on the dude looking for a little trim, but there is no reason to procreate when prophylactics are readily available. Duh, 99.99% of pregnancies are easily prevented if you have an IQ greater than 90.

Yeah, lack of “marriageable men”. That must be it. Surely the trashing and disrespecting of men for the last 50 years couldn’t have anything to do with it. Surely the government’s overt efforts to replace the father in families couldn’t have anything to do with it. Surely the anomie produced by unlimited illegal immigration couldn’t have anything to do with it. Surely the universities’ efforts to instill moral relativism in students couldn’t have anything to do with it. It must be those lousy unmarriageable men.

Albert Einstein here. You know what can significantly reduce the chances of a woman having to "go it alone?" This is deep but stay with me. Not having a child by a man who has no intention of being a positively-involved father.

Hmmmm ... so it's the men ... it's not the women having sex with the men and looking for baby-daddy's? And how is it that social-welfare isn't mentioned as part of the problem? A system that basically pays women to be single parents? Fixing families is complicated, I get that, but come on man. And it's not a money problem. More programs and more money isn't going to fix anything. At this point it's more of a culture issue. People are going to need to make personal choices to cut this out.

No, there is no lack of marriageable men. If you look at singles group or other indicators of people looking for marriage, men greatly exceed women in quantity and quality. The Hill reports:

More than 60 percent of young men are single, nearly twice the rate of unattached young women, signaling a larger breakdown in the social, romantic and sexual life of the American male. ...

As of 2022, Pew Research Center found, 30 percent of U.S. adults are neither married, living with a partner nor engaged in a committed relationship. Nearly half of all young adults are single: 34 percent of women, and a whopping 63 percent of men.  

Pretty much all marriageable women are able to find a husband, if they look. Not true about men. The rise of single parent households is almost entirely women rejecting fathers for various reasons. And yes, the kids are worse off for the mom making these poor decisions. Stop blaming the men.

The dating apps have exposed female hypergamy more clearly. Most women on them would rather be a mistress to an alpha man, then be married to a man closer to her station in life. More simply, the women reject the marriageable men. This is a consequence of human nature, feminism, and a breakdown of social norms.

Some men are turning to AI girlfriends:

The rise of virtual artificial intelligence (AI) girlfriends is enabling the silent epidemic of loneliness in an entire generation of young men. It is also having severe consequences for America’s future. ...

These virtual girlfriends can even be based on real people. One influencer created an AI bot of herself named Caryn, then gained over 1,000 users (i.e. real boyfriends) in less than a week and a waitlist of more than 15,000 people.

This is only happening because of a lack of suitable real girlfriends.