Saying no to the dress

The graph below will surprise no one who has been paying attention. In the US, since the mid 20th century, marriage rates have been steadily falling off a cliff. 

We can extend that to the global population as well. 

The generation of my children (GenZ) is even more relationship phobic for numerous good reasons. One of the primary reasons is that marriages are no longer considered an economic necessity or a social obligation the way they were once seen. 

Women, who have attained financial independence to the largest degree in our history, now have been set free to decide whether they will enter into such a contract. 

Both sexes have also witnessed how their parents' failed marriages have impacted the social fabric of families. Hence the removal of automatic instinct to copy a formula with promise of limited success. Even those who stayed together offered less than ideal models of bliss.

Hypergamy eventually took over in that the majority of women chased the minority of men; namely those who fit both their financial and biological preferences. Those elite men decided that playing the field was to their advantage rather than settling down too quickly. 

The rest of the men began to resent their rejection and many have given up to feed the MGTOW movement (men go their own way). 

Youtube is full of content by disgruntled men enjoying the panic of women bemoaning that they are no longer being chased. Some have biological clocks ticking or are single Millennial divorced parents looking for a second chance at love. 

Thanks to our unstable economic times GenZ considers relationships a low priority until they get their own house in order. It has fallen in their list of priorities to a point that it will impact population demographics particularly in the West for years to come. 

I can't help but see some positive here in that the copy and paste formula of my generation and older has fallen by the wayside. People should do what they want without being questioned.