Slaying the Marriage Dragon on NPR

On “Open to Debate,” I take on a marriage enthusiast

Photo by Akshaye Sikand on Unsplash

When I was invited to participate in an hour-long debate, “Married or Single?”, I jumped at the chance. The show is Open to Debate, moderated by John Donvan, who used to be ABC’s White House correspondent and has won 4 Emmys. The show will air on WNYC and many public radio stations around the country. It is also available as a podcast on Apple and Spotify and it is on YouTube too.

It was a great opportunity for me to explain what’s wrong with claims that married people are happier and healthier (starts around 22:00), to demolish the claim that single people are selfish (starts around 24:00), and much more. When my debate partner, Jonathan Rothwell, kept mentioning the awesome contributions that parents make, I asked him outright whether he was claiming that parents are more virtuous than people who are not parents (starts around 35:00).

Previously, I dismantled the claim Rothwell made on Twitter/X after the debate, that maybe singles were treated unfairly in the past, but that’s not happening anymore.

The format of the debate:

• Introduction by the moderator, John Donvan
• Opening remarks, Jonathan Rothwell, then Bella DePaulo