Singlehood, Hanging Out, Hooking Up, and Cohabitation

This chapter focuses on the aspects of singlehood and the â€Å"benefits† of it as well as the downs. The Primary advantages of singlehood are the freedom that is possessed and the control over their own life. Some of the social movements which promoted singlehood are: – The sexual revolution movement: involved openness about sexuality and permitted intercourse outside marriage. – The women’s movement: Emphasized equality in education, employment and income for women. – The gay liberation movement: Provided support for a lifestyle consistent with one’s sexual orientation. There are different types of singles in the US there is the Never married singles, Divorced singles, Widowed singles. Being single has some costs; individuals who are single are more likely to contract deceases or STIs. Women are also more likely to contract STIs from men, than men are from women. There are many ways to finding a partner such as, hanging out which is getting together, in groups, it might often be referred as â€Å"Testing the waters. † Another way is hooking up, in other words, casual sex, which has no emotion behind it and no plans of seeing each other again. There is also other ways to find a partner such as using the Internet or video chatting. One way that can also be helpful is speed dating which consists of having multiple dates at once in a couple of minutes. This procedure can be helpful because both women and men can meet and socialize multiple people in a certain amount of time instead of taking the whole evening just for one date. Dating after divorce could be a little challenging and cal also have a few problems; the way they date could be completely different than when they first did. They tend to use the Internet for new partners, there are fewer potential partners, and there is a higher change of them contracting STIs. There are different types of marriages around the globe for example the Chinese have this so called â€Å"Blind Marriages† where none the bride or broom groom aren’t allowed to see each other until the actual wedding. Cohabitation is living together before marriage. There is also different name for it such as, Duration of the relationship, Frequency of Overnight Visits, Emotional or Sexual Nature of the Relationship and Sex of the Partners. As well as there are different names of cohabitation there are also different types of it. – Here and now- Money Savers- Rebellious Cohabitates – Testers- Pension Partners- Marriage Never – Engaged- Security Blanket Cohabitates Cohabitating has its pros and cons some of the advantages of it are: Sense of well-being, Delayed marriage, Knowledge about self and partner, and Safety. The disadvantages are: Feeling used or tricked, Problems with parents, Economic disadvantages, Effects on children, and other issues. Common law marriage is when couples that wanted to be married did not have easy or convenient access to legal authorities. My personal Response I believe that everything that was presented in this chapter has very informative features and some or most people could relate to. Personally I don’t have a lot of experience in this field because I’m not at the level where I feel like I’m ready to move out and cohabitate. I know for a fact that some day it’ll happen and I might acquire some features that might not be so suitable, but by reading this chapter I have a broader understanding of what it takes, and the benefits that cohabitating brings and the disadvantages as well. I think that the ways of finding a partner are pretty interesting because even thought I’m not trying to look for a partner yet, it could relate to a whole lot of people like myself. Hanging out is a pretty common thing to do and everybody does it, for the sake of finding someone, to have that feeling that your not alone or just self-satisfaction. There are the times where casual sex is â€Å"available†, for the lack of a better word, and often times cannot be given up, I guess its overwhelming? Something that also called my attention was speed dating. I think that speed dating could be a fun and sociable event that might even change lives for the better of the worse. One more advantage that I would add to cohabitation, besides the book ones, would be that you can always count on that person that you choose to be there for you through the good and the bad, someone that you can talk to and ignore the physical attraction at times and exchange thoughtful words that could make the cohabitating experience better.