One of the most important things to consider when analyzing today's fractured social landscape is how singlehood is generally experienced in men vs. in women. Briefly, most women experience singlehood just fine, whereas most men feel miserable. Psychologists have found that this can be explained by the different nature of male vs. female friendships. Women's friendships tend to revolve around the sharing of experience and emotion. They do not hesitate to share their personal difficulties with their friends in an exchange of emotional support. In contrast, male friendships revolve around doing things, and their discussions are typically surface level and lighthearted. This leaves single men without the emotional support that an intimate relationship typically provides. In addition, being single in men is sometimes associated with the painful feeling of rejection, further compouning their emotional difficulties. A corollary to all of this is that women sometimes have difficulty understanding why single men are feeling bad, because single women themselves just are just fine with their friends and social activities. The above are generalizations, as is often the case in psychology, but represent established gender differences about singlehood. I hope that they will prove interesting are perhaps useful.




