2024 is a Leap Year in which February 29th, the extra day, is also known as Bachelor’s Day. Perhaps a day that comes only once every four years, a day in fact when it is traditional for women to propose to men, is a suitable occasion for addressing widespread fallacies regarding the lives of bachelors and those of spinsters.
We’ll begin by contrasting the words “bachelor,” a never-married man and “spinster,” a never-married woman. The first is seen as positive, the second as negative. Generally, a bachelor’s life, unfettered by the constraints and demands of a wife, is perceived as possibly somewhat immature but nevertheless glamorous, carefree and fun while a spinster’s existence, lived without a husband and family, is thought to be narrow, frustrated, unfulfilled, even futile.
Myth-shattering research by Jessie Bernard revealed that the happiest and longest-lived women remained single while the happiest and longest-lived men were married.
So much for the enviable bachelor and the pitiable spinster.
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