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Why Relationships with Men Are Giving So Many of Us the Ick
The male loneliness epidemic is only going to get worse.
I feel like such a cliche. I’m a romance writer who is apathetic about real-life romance. If this was a Hallmark movie, a local baker/lumberjack/cowboy would convince me to help him save the local bakery/tree farm/horse farm, host a town festival, and simultaneously find love again. But this isn’t a Hallmark movie, and the idea of a relationship with a man just gives me the ick.
The ick is that moment when a person of interest reveals a major turnoff (sometimes due to a minor quirk). Right now, a lot of people who date men are looking at relationships with them as something undesirable. I know many women who have just stopped dating altogether.
In truth, the male loneliness epidemic is about to get worse. As women watch more men sit in silence through the assault on our rights, more of us are deciding that those men are undesirable as partners. With every bit of non-action from our alleged allies, we’re just feeling more of the ick.
And worse than the non-action is the blatant misogyny of so many men. Everywhere we turn, we see men looking for a trad wife who are offended at the idea that they should embody the ideals of a trad husband who supports her. They want to go back…
