Single life as a guy...

Fukuyama wrote: »

There (apparently) are a lot of single women in their 30s who can't find a man. And the few single men in their 30s/40s seem to be in demand as a result (judging by the multiple posts on here). Maybe a lot of men silently have a similar mindset to myself and have taken themselves off the market. Naturally you wouldn't hear it openly discussed. I mean, there was no major war or mass emigration of males which would explain this phenomenon.

In the first part, a young woman calls on Aoibheal declares her case against the young men of Ireland for their refusal to marry. She complains that, despite increasingly desperate attempts to capture a husband via intensive flirtation at hurling matches, wakes, and pattern days, the young men insist on ignoring her in favour of late marriages to much older women. The young woman further bewails the contempt with which she is treated by the married women of the village.

She is answered by an old man who first denounces the wanton promiscuity of young women in general, suggesting that the young woman who spoke before was conceived by a Tinker under a cart. He vividly describes the infidelity of his own young wife. He declares his humiliation at finding her already pregnant on their wedding night and the gossip which has surrounded the "premature" birth of "his" son ever since. He disgustedly attacks the dissolute lifestyles of young women in general. Then, however, he declares that there is nothing wrong with his illegitimate children and denounces marriage as "out of date." He demands that the Queen outlaw it altogether and replace it with a system of free love.

The young woman, however, is infuriated by the old' man's words and is barely restrained from physically attacking him. She mocks his inability to fulfill his marital duties with his young wife, saying that she was a homeless beggar who married him to avoid starvation. She vividly argues that if his wife has taken a lover, she well deserves one. She then calls for the abolition of priestly celibacy, alleging that priests would otherwise make wonderful husbands and fathers. In the meantime, however, she will keep trying to attract an older man in hopes that her unmarried humiliation will finally end.

Finally, in the judgement section Queen Aoibheal rules that all laymen must marry before the age of 21, on pain of corporal punishment at the hands of Ireland's women. She advises them to equally target the romantically indifferent, homosexuals, and unmarried skirt chasers who boast of the number of notches on their belts. Aoibheal tells them to be careful, however, not to leave any man unable to father children. She also states that abolishing priestly celibacy is beyond her mandate and counsels patience.

To the poet's horror, the younger woman angrily points him out as a 30-year-old, bachelor and describes her many failed attempts to attract his interest in hopes of becoming his wife. She declares that he must be the first man to suffer the consequences of the new marriage law. As a crowd of infuriated women prepares to flog him into a quivering bowl of jelly, he awakens to find it was all a terrible nightmare.

Fukuyama wrote: »

Well then you have to wonder WHY this is the case. There's loads of single men around. .

Confucius say wrote: »

Yeah but far more guys are undateable than women in general. Like a good few lads I know from childhood just turned out a bit odd and have never had girlfriends and might be nearly 40 now. You don't see it really with any of the girls I grew up with.

Fukuyama wrote: »

Well then you have to wonder WHY this is the case. There's loads of single men around. They weren't killed in war like in Britain after WW1 and WW2. They can't all be anti-social losers that fell out of the ugly tree.