Once I Related to Sex and the City

OK, so I'm not saying I'm a huge fan of Sex and the City - well, okay, I know all the complex nuances of the characters and their respective sub-plots - but there once was a time when I actually got what Carrie Bradshaw was saying.  I mean, really got it and was happy someone was putting it out there.

So, here it is: Carrie was complaining about how single people are expected to attend their friends' baby and bridal showers, weddings and baptisms, engagement parties and children's birthdays - all of which do not have an equivalent for the single person.  Sure, we get birthdays (and my friends are always good about remembering and celebrating those), but there's no comparison really, if you add up the various celebrations throughout a lifetime. 

Now, I'm not saying I don't want to celebrate friends' and relatives' happiness - I just wonder at the extreme societal forces pushing people together into couplehood and then continually creating ways in which to celebrate said couplehood through gift-giving, employee benefits, and general social acceptance.  Sigh.  It almost makes me wish DQ actually did make those cakes they advertise for root canals...

All of which I say as a preface to encouraging you to look at the Alternatives to Marriage Project.  A lot of what they spout makes sense to me.  And they make their point in fun ways - check out the Unmarried Song Lyrics page, featuring songs by Kristin Hersh and Joni Mitchell among others!  They also take up the important issue of Welfare and Marriage Promotion.

Damn it - the social forces are so strong, I once again feel the need to reiterate that I enjoy my friends' and relatives' happiness and hold no personal grudges against those who wish to celebrate such things as weddings and births.  I'm just raising the question about the social and religious structures that are in place that exert such a preference for certain lifestyles over others.