Love and Marriage

. . . May go together like a horse and carriage, as the song says -- unless the wife has a career. If so, fuggeddaboutit!

That's the verdict, according to Michael Noer of Forbes. In Careers and Marriage, Noer warns his fellow man-kind of the risks of finding wedded bliss with a "career girl." WHAT? Can it be true? Yes -- he found a study supporting this proposition, so it must be true. He notes:

Because if many social scientists are to be believed, you run a higher risk of having a rocky marriage. While everyone knows that marriage can be stressful, recent studies have found professional women are more likely to get divorced, more likely to cheat, less likely to have children, and, if they do have kids, they are more likely to be unhappy about it.

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If a host of studies are to be believed, marrying these women is asking for trouble. If they quit their jobs and stay home with the kids, they will be unhappy. They will be unhappy if they make more money than you do. You will be unhappy if they make more money than you do. You will be more likely to fall ill. Even your house will be dirtier. (Citations omitted).

This puff piece apparantly cause a dust-up (no doubt taking time away from housework), causing Forbes to remove it from the site for a time. It was then put back up, with a counterpoint piece, entitled "Don't Marry a Lazy Man." See, Philadelphia Will Do. The sequel, "Don't Marry an Idiot," is due out next week. Laura had a busy schedule this week, so she wasn't able to finish it.

Best response (out of deluge) is from Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon, Because once she's seen the city, you can't keep her in the cave, who provides advice to those who would be interested in this article. She adds to the list of reasons why not to marry a career woman, with tips "on how to obtain and keep a woman beyond simple financial dependence. . . . [by] add[ing] onto Forbes advice about avoiding women who have the financial means to avoid your sorry ass." She calls her list "How To Capture And Contain Your Very Own Wife." It includes such helpful hints as "Go to a bridal auction and purchase a well-trained one from her father," and "Never-ending pregnancy." See also, Feministe's Why You Should Marry a Doormat.

I don't know if Noer is married, but he sure knows women and wives. He also penned this piece, The Economics Of Prostitution, comparing whores and wives. You know, both wives and whores are alike -- "economic 'goods' that can be substituted for each other. Men buy, women sell."

Citing the study, he notes "spouses and streetwalkers aren't exactly alike. Wives, in truth, are superior to whores in the economist's sense of being a good whose consumption increases as income rises--like fine wine. This may explain why prostitution is less common in wealthier countries. But the implication remains that wives and whores are--if not exactly like Coke and Pepsi--something akin to champagne and beer. The same sort of thing."

I knew I was spending too much time on the rise of bigotry. I've been focused on hatred towards blacks, gays, Arabs, Latinos (and immigrants in general) of late, so much so that I overlooked the original male bastion -- sexism. Thanks for reminding me.

(Via Philadelphia Will Do, who captioned his post: If You Want To Be Happy For The Rest Of Your Life, Never Trust Forbes When Choosing A Wife)

Tags: Commentary, Sexism, Marriage, Career women