Are you curious about how society idolizes marriage? No matter why you may be single, you can thrive as a single person. You can make the most of being single. Here are twelve ways popular culture idealizes marriage.
12 Ways Popular Culture Idealizes Marriage
The One
Popular culture spreads the myth that every person has a soulmate. A soulmate is someone you are meant to be with, no matter what. This myth is perpetuated through fairy tales, Disney movies, and the dating industrial complex. Soulmates do not exist.
There is no “one” person for you. You are the only person you need.
True Love
Popular culture also pushes the concept of true love. This follows from the soulmate myth. The idea of true love is that you can only love one person. The reality is that you may be compatible with multiple people. You can think of The Prince Bride, among other cultural concepts, of pushing true love.
Prince Charming
There is then the myth of Prince Charming. Prince Charming rescues the princess or damsel in distress from the monster that has captured her. She will then marry her Prince Charming.
The whole concept of Prince Charming is ludicrous. Every man has his flaws. There is no perfect person, yet society wants you to believe that there is someone who will come to rescue you.
There is no one coming to save you. Be it Prince Charming or someone else. You are responsible for rescuing yourself from your current situation.
Damsel In Distress
The damsel in distress is a woman who often has been taken by a villain. She is distressed because she is living in a tower or imprisoned. She is a captive to the villain or monster that has captured her.
The damsel in distress must wait for Prince Charming to rescue her. The problem with this is that it makes women weak. It makes women think there is a Prince Charming. It also makes people think they must wait for someone to rescue them rather than take action to free themselves from their situation.
No matter your circumstances, you can practice self-responsibility and work to improve your situation.
Princess
The princess is another familiar archetype in Disney movies and fairy tales. She often wishes for her Prince Charming to rescue her from her singleness. She does not want to be a princess. She wants to be a queen sitting beside her queen.
The problem is to be a queen, she must marry. You can live an extraordinary life without getting married.
Wedding Dress
The wedding dress has long been associated with purity—a virgin bride. As a result of the hookup culture, hookup apps, and the normalization of hooking up, this is no longer the case. Someone you may marry may not be pure, let alone a virgin. Yet a bride can wear the dress on the day of the wedding.
It does not matter why you decide to marry someone, but the traditional concept of what the wedding dress symbolizes continues to become more archaic. That is a consequence of what popular culture has deemed acceptable behavior. It does not matter who is wearing the dress as long as you love the person, yet the wedding dress has long been a vital symbol to showcase a woman’s purity to her husband on her wedding night.
Find A Beautiful Bride
Prince Charming is told that he must find a beautiful bride. This results in two main problems. Men start to succumb to unrealistic beauty standards. Men want every woman to be a supermodel or at least a seven to a ten.
For women, they must do everything that they can to present themselves unrealistically to men. This requires women to buy makeup, get boob jobs, and other things which they believe will make them more beautiful.
Society’s emphasis on beauty is problematic. While caring about one’s appearance is worthwhile, it can be taken overboard. You no longer are doing it for yourself. You are doing it to please other people, Big Beauty and Big Wedding, to get a date or to get married.
It is best to be true to yourself. You could save and invest that money rather than spend it on beauty and other temporary products.
Proposal
Engagements and proposals are another major event. People are told to celebrate when someone is proposed to. It does not matter if it is a friend or a celebrity.
They were proposed to, so you must be happy. You must celebrate them by liking their proposal and engagement posts on social media.
Wedding
Weddings are celebrated as one-in-a-lifetime events. Never mind that divorces are becoming more common. Yet you are told to celebrate the bride and the groom’s wedding.
You are encouraged to plan your schedule around two people you may never see again after their wedding day. They may not be together a couple to a few years after attending their wedding. Weddings have become expensive, overrated, and not worth the time and money to attend.
Marriage
Marriage continues to decline in popularity. What is the point of committing yourself to another person when you could enjoy life alone? What about the risks that come with divorce?
Modern society has made it so that it is best not to marry. This is fine because you can live an extraordinary life as a single person.
White Picket Fence
Once you are married, you are told to build a white picket fence around your house. You then are advised to have two-and-a-half children. It does not matter if you can afford your house or the children.
You must reproduce. Your needs do not matter. You must care more about reproducing than caring for your own needs.
Happily Ever After
Happily ever after is another myth that society pushes onto singles. It follows from the belief in finding your soulmate, marriage, and the white picket fence. You are told to find the right person, purchase the right house, then have children. You will then be happy.
You do not need to marry to be happy. You can be happily single. You can enjoy a single life. You can live your best life without marriage, yet popular culture tells you that is impossible.
Secure Single recommends:
Summary
Popular culture pushes many myths upon singles, from soulmates to marriage being the only way to happiness. The reality is that you can invest in yourself to reach your full potential. It is best to invest in yourself rather than focus on others. Whether you want to date or marry eventually, focus on yourself and work to reach your goals instead of placing dating and marriage on a pedestal.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). Now available in paperback on Amazon. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free!
Are you curious about how society idolizes marriage? No matter why you may be single, you can thrive as a single person. You can make the most of being single. Here are twelve ways popular culture idealizes marriage.
12 Ways Popular Culture Idealizes Marriage
The One
Popular culture spreads the myth that every person has a soulmate. A soulmate is someone you are meant to be with, no matter what. This myth is perpetuated through fairy tales, Disney movies, and the dating industrial complex. Soulmates do not exist.
There is no “one” person for you. You are the only person you need.
True Love
Popular culture also pushes the concept of true love. This follows from the soulmate myth. The idea of true love is that you can only love one person. The reality is that you may be compatible with multiple people. You can think of The Prince Bride, among other cultural concepts, of pushing true love.
Prince Charming
There is then the myth of Prince Charming. Prince Charming rescues the princess or damsel in distress from the monster that has captured her. She will then marry her Prince Charming.
The whole concept of Prince Charming is ludicrous. Every man has his flaws. There is no perfect person, yet society wants you to believe that there is someone who will come to rescue you.
There is no one coming to save you. Be it Prince Charming or someone else. You are responsible for rescuing yourself from your current situation.
Damsel In Distress
The damsel in distress is a woman who often has been taken by a villain. She is distressed because she is living in a tower or imprisoned. She is a captive to the villain or monster that has captured her.
The damsel in distress must wait for Prince Charming to rescue her. The problem with this is that it makes women weak. It makes women think there is a Prince Charming. It also makes people think they must wait for someone to rescue them rather than take action to free themselves from their situation.
No matter your circumstances, you can practice self-responsibility and work to improve your situation.
Princess
The princess is another familiar archetype in Disney movies and fairy tales. She often wishes for her Prince Charming to rescue her from her singleness. She does not want to be a princess. She wants to be a queen sitting beside her queen.
The problem is to be a queen, she must marry. You can live an extraordinary life without getting married.
Wedding Dress
The wedding dress has long been associated with purity—a virgin bride. As a result of the hookup culture, hookup apps, and the normalization of hooking up, this is no longer the case. Someone you may marry may not be pure, let alone a virgin. Yet a bride can wear the dress on the day of the wedding.
It does not matter why you decide to marry someone, but the traditional concept of what the wedding dress symbolizes continues to become more archaic. That is a consequence of what popular culture has deemed acceptable behavior. It does not matter who is wearing the dress as long as you love the person, yet the wedding dress has long been a vital symbol to showcase a woman’s purity to her husband on her wedding night.
Find A Beautiful Bride
Prince Charming is told that he must find a beautiful bride. This results in two main problems. Men start to succumb to unrealistic beauty standards. Men want every woman to be a supermodel or at least a seven to a ten.
For women, they must do everything that they can to present themselves unrealistically to men. This requires women to buy makeup, get boob jobs, and other things which they believe will make them more beautiful.
Society’s emphasis on beauty is problematic. While caring about one’s appearance is worthwhile, it can be taken overboard. You no longer are doing it for yourself. You are doing it to please other people, Big Beauty and Big Wedding, to get a date or to get married.
It is best to be true to yourself. You could save and invest that money rather than spend it on beauty and other temporary products.
Proposal
Engagements and proposals are another major event. People are told to celebrate when someone is proposed to. It does not matter if it is a friend or a celebrity.
They were proposed to, so you must be happy. You must celebrate them by liking their proposal and engagement posts on social media.
Wedding
Weddings are celebrated as one-in-a-lifetime events. Never mind that divorces are becoming more common. Yet you are told to celebrate the bride and the groom’s wedding.
You are encouraged to plan your schedule around two people you may never see again after their wedding day. They may not be together a couple to a few years after attending their wedding. Weddings have become expensive, overrated, and not worth the time and money to attend.
Marriage
Marriage continues to decline in popularity. What is the point of committing yourself to another person when you could enjoy life alone? What about the risks that come with divorce?
Modern society has made it so that it is best not to marry. This is fine because you can live an extraordinary life as a single person.
White Picket Fence
Once you are married, you are told to build a white picket fence around your house. You then are advised to have two-and-a-half children. It does not matter if you can afford your house or the children.
You must reproduce. Your needs do not matter. You must care more about reproducing than caring for your own needs.
Happily Ever After
Happily ever after is another myth that society pushes onto singles. It follows from the belief in finding your soulmate, marriage, and the white picket fence. You are told to find the right person, purchase the right house, then have children. You will then be happy.
You do not need to marry to be happy. You can be happily single. You can enjoy a single life. You can live your best life without marriage, yet popular culture tells you that is impossible.
Secure Single recommends:
Singles Do Not Need An Artificially Intelligent Boyfriend Or Girlfriend
5 Strategies To End A Friendship
Strategies For Singles To Survive A Recession
Summary
Popular culture pushes many myths upon singles, from soulmates to marriage being the only way to happiness. The reality is that you can invest in yourself to reach your full potential. It is best to invest in yourself rather than focus on others. Whether you want to date or marry eventually, focus on yourself and work to reach your goals instead of placing dating and marriage on a pedestal.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). Now available in paperback on Amazon. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free!