Declining Marriage Rates

As I have digested more online content involving gender dynamics, I have become very aware of how perception becomes reality. When we digest content that reenforces a theme or narrative, it is easy to get sucked into believing that narrative is all encompassing.

Fifty years ago, there were people who were concerned that a population explosion would leave our world in a state where we would outstrip our resources. Now, there is starting to be some concern that a population collapse is coming that will doom us to extinction.

There is evidence that the population is starting to swing from growth to decline worldwide and that in the next 50 years, we will see the human population shrink by a lot. So, if the population explosion some feared isn't really a thing and that the real threat is that we just don't want to pop out babies anymore, what's going on?

If I were a sophisticated researcher, I would begin by explaining how humanity used to be in survival mode as a species as we swarmed over the Earth and subdued it and that we are now pretty much done with that process. When we no longer need to spend our time worry about where our next meal is coming from (as a species, some of you may still worry on an individual level) we need something to focus on and that thing that we focus on is ourselves. What I mean by that is our own quality of life. The things that our forefathers had to put up with, we don't have to put up with anymore.

But I'm not a sophisticated researcher, I'm just a guy on the internet with an opinion. So, I'll put it like this. Gathering many opinions that both men and women put on the internet for the world to digest, the message is clear. Marriage is a bad deal. It is a bad deal for men but it is also a bad deal for women.

The reasoning goes something like this.

Male Perspective: The law cannot enforce the female part of the marriage contract, but it sure can enforce the male part. So, your wife can renege on her part and when she gets bored with you, take half of your shit as she walks out the door.

Female Perspective: You will be expected to work outside the home, do all the domestic chores, raise the children (if children are involved) and be his sex slave while you sacrifice your own identity. After you get too old, he will trade you in on a younger model.

When you explain marriage like that, it's not hard to understand why some people would decline to participate.

Disclaimer: These opinions do not necessarily reflect my own, they are a summary of the basic attitude I've come across with the views that have been expressed by other people online. I also want to mention that there are a lot of people in the world and a lot of different ideas are embodied in all those people. Having said that, the ideas expressed above have been expressed a lot by various people. Furthermore, I am passing on my own observations, your observations may vary depending on what echo chamber you may be living in.

How much of these observations are actually reality? I don't know but I think whoever is around 50 years from now will have a pretty good idea.