?The world around me?: The environment and single women

Abstract

The "environment" has often been taken as a backdrop for feminist research and theory, as a ,vetting within which issues of feminist concern are played out. This environment, however, is not a neutral setting; rather, research over the past 15 years has evidenced the assumptions about "a woman's place" as a man's wife literally built into women's worlds. Space speaks, and the stories it tells center around particular and identifiable assumptions about gender and where a woman "should" be, when, and with whom. Unmarried women are in a unique position in this environment: they are subjected not only to the economic disadvantages and social subjugation of being a woman, but also to the social and economic drawbacks of being single in a couple-oriented society and in an environment they see as not built for them. Although research exists on the sexism in the physical environment, on women's economic and social position, and on singlehood, a need exists to bridge these areas to explore how single women experience their singlehood, their womanhood, and the environment in their everyday lives and decision making. I conducted in-depth interviews with 25 single women, 23 white and 2 African-American women, about their experiences of living single. This article, based on the results of those interviews and a series of focus group discussions, examines how single women negotiate and respond to their necessary environmental decisions about housing, transportation, and leisure activities in an environment not likely to be conducive to their ways of life.IThis article is based on my M.A. thesis at the University of Tennessee (1992) and as such would not have happened without the guidance of my thesis committee: Samuel Wallace (chair), Donald Hastings, and Suzanne Kurth. For the preparation of this article, Suzanne Kurth offered her patience and invaluable criticisms to countless drafts, and Sherry Cable gave an early draft a thorough and helpful reading. I also wish to thank two anonymous Sex Roles reviewers, whose comments guided this piece into this form. Parts of this paper were presented

The Discursive Climate of Singleness: The Consequences for Women's Negotiation of a Single Identity

“…A number of studies have documented the marginalization of single women (Adams, 1976;Bickerton, 1983;Chandler, 1991;Chasteen, 1994;Holden, 1996;Jeffreys, 1985). Jeffreys, for example, in her historical research on lesbian women records the attacks on single women in the early part of the twentieth century.…”

I Can't Wait to Get Married: Gender Differences in Drive to Marry

“…They also tend to think that women who have not married are perceived as deficient (Reynolds & Wetherell, 2003;Sandfield & Percy, 2003). Finally, fear for personal safety when alone in public is not likely to be a concern of single men, but it is a concern often expressed by single women (Chasteen, 1994). Thus it is reasonable to assume that women's desire to marry would be expected to be especially strong.…”

Lesbian and Heterosexual Adoptive Mothers’ Experiences of Relationship Dissolution

“…Specifically, they described disappointment and guilt surrounding the ending of their unions, particularly in relation to how their children might suffer due to their "failure" to stay together-a concern that was sometimes compounded by their awareness of their children's unique history of loss. Heterosexual women were especially likely to express shame and sadness regarding their newly single status, possibly because their identity was wrapped up in their status as married; in turn, they may have experienced greater stigma regarding their "inability" to preserve their marriage (Chasteen 1994;Sandfield 2006). Thus, the heterosexual women in the sample may have perceived the greatest costs to their social status, due to their inherent vulnerability to dominant discourses valorizing heterosexual marriage (Sandfield and Percy 2003); sexual minorities, in contrast, are more "experienced" in not meeting societal expectations, and may have endured less shame or distress regarding the failure to conform to family ideals.…”

“…More so than sexual minorities or heterosexual men, heterosexual women are often exposed to family and friends who reinforce the notion that marriage is ideal (Sandfield and Percy 2003). They may be more likely to view marriage as a defining part of "normal" identity and to feel stigmatized by the "failure" of their marriage (Chasteen 1994). As van Schalkwyk (2005) writes, "Divorced women often face dominant discourses that elicit intense internal discomfort, conflict, and loss of socially constructed self," prompting a view of themselves as "less meaningful and worthy as relational beings" (p. 90).…”

“…In this way, women recounted their prior unions as limiting their personal development, and thus experienced relief associated with the separation which prompted greater life satisfaction. Their narratives of growth, renewal, and personal reconstruction are in stark contrast to the dominant discourse of divorce as tragedy (Chasteen 1994), and challenge the "failure" discourse that is so often associated with relationship dissolution (van Schalkwyk 2005).…”