One is a whole number.
No matter what society tries to tell you. And it is obvious from this book that women are ALWAYS told that they are nothing without a man. Apparently women who are free to do as they please are terrifying. Yet we have always existed, mostly happily, doing our own thing, whatever that might be.
One woman interviewed for this book described a ‘hailstorm' of pressure to produce children. Are men ever subjected to this pressure? It seems to me that men are allowed to exist in a permanent state of bachelorhood and no one questions whether they are lazy, crazy, or deficient. I agree with one woman quoted in the last chapters: “I'm not childless, I'm child free." Nor are we all destined to become cat ladies. No one questions if a “bachelor pad" is messy, but women are held to a different standard. Ask any woman—housework is boring, repetitive and thankless. People only notice if you don't do it. Yet we are supposed to be making it the centre of our lives?
It has always bothered me, as a single woman, that people freak out about Christmas. “OMG, you can't be alone at Christmas!“ To which I reply, if you don't care about me on my own on the other 364 days of the year, what makes Christmas different? To be absolutely honest, I prefer to be on my own, rather than negotiating the stress in other people's homes.
Like the author of this book, I wonder why no one believes single women when we say we are happy. We wouldn't say it if it wasn't true! I have to say, I was surprised to read that this defender of single womanhood was married with children. Despite having joined the “smug marrieds," she has written a spirited defense of the single female life.
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