Sorry Rebecca, Daddy's Broke

Rebecca Traister's new book All Single Ladies has landed, and is garnering adulation from across the femisphere. The subtitle, Unmarried Women and The Rise of An Independent Nation strikes a note of triumphalism. Nobody has a problem with women being equal before the law, but why celebrate the devaluation of the institution of marriage?

Because single women comprise a quarter of the electorate, and they vote left. Encouraging women to eschew marriage is done in service to the marxist progressive will to power.

Curiously, Traister contends that single women have "played as large a part as anyone in saving marriage in America," by "demanding more from men and from marriage."

She's right about women demanding more from men and marriage. Getting married greatly disadvantages men. Why would any man choose marriage when there are plenty of women who will offer themselves sexually and cohabit in exchange for nothing in return? Marriage penalizes men who can be sued for divorce for any reason or no reason. Marriage penalizes fathers by prioritizing mothers in custody disputes. A man who fathers a child can be compelled by the state, under penalty of prison, to support that child, even if the mother leaves the marriage.

Now there is the concept of marital rape, in which any female can allege her husband has committed a felony by having sex with her.

Perhaps Traister is imputing total female agency over the attenuation of marriage. There are millions of women who allow themselves to be used for sex, during their most fertile years, in exchange for nothing. Surely many of them wish to be married. The reason they aren't has more to do with their men understanding the tradeoffs and choosing relative freedom.

Predictably, Traister appends her book with an index of policy proposals to improve the lives of single women. As Traister notes, "Conservatives have long feared that if women became more independent, men would become less central to economic security, social standing, sexual life and, as it turned out, to parenthood."

That's not what conservatives fear. Women can turn away from men, but they can't live without daddy. As men become less central, the government becomes more central to economic security, sexual life, and parenthood. A universal mandatory paid maternity leave will have to be subsidized by the taxpayers.

Rebecca Traister just wants the taxpayer to be her daddy.

Rebecca, daddy's broke. He doesn't have the money that you think he has. You're going to have to cut back your expectations a little bit, ok?