61% of Young Men in the U.S. Now Prioritize Career & Freedom Over Marriage – Cultural Shift or Just Common Sense?

OhNoesTheWamen · 2025-08-15T16:42:13+00:00

Why would you enter into a contract when the opposing party is incentivized to break that contract? Until the divorce courts quit screwing men over, this is simply sanity.

What this tells me is that younger men are paying attention to what their mothers did to their fathers.

IceCorrect · 2025-08-15T17:01:12+00:00

Well, without career you don't have marriage

THEbeautifuLIE · 2025-08-15T18:20:50+00:00

[[Who could’ve POSSIBLY seen this coming?!?]]

men: “We like healthy, physically-fit women.”
women: “So what?!? If you can’t love my curves at 350 lbs, you don’t deserve me! You probably don’t even have the equipment to handle the job!”

men: “We like cooperative women.”
women: “You just want a doormat that you can walk all over & treat like a slave! You can’t handle a REAL women with her own mind!”

men: “We like virtuous, relatively-modest women.”
women: “You can’t control me! I don’t care if I sleep with 200 men, have 5 different baby-daddies & 2 STI/STDs - that doesn’t lower my value as a wife in ANY way! .”

men: “We like women who can, at least, recognize the issues modern men contend with.”
women: “Ohhhhhhh, you guys are soooooo oppressed, huh? You could never experience what women experience DAILY!”

women: “Now that THAT’s settled: what we want from you is—“
men: “Don’t worry about it, kiddo - We’re good over here, but thanks for the chat!”

Subject-Storage4232 · 2025-08-15T17:35:05+00:00

I don't live in the U.S.; from a majority East-Asian country.

Marriage and birthrate plummeted like crazy over the past 30 years despite my country not having divorce laws that will pulverize the man's wallet.

Already getting a woman's attention for a date is difficult. Then you have to keep up with her during the dating phase. Then comes the engagement, the finances, her family and then once you get married, it's a lot of walking on eggshells to keep her satisfied (or else).

So of course men in my country are backing away from women in general. I would say it's common sense leading to a cultural shift.

Good thing we don't have all these stupid woke feminism dogshit movement causing a ruckus and the women in my country are not insufferable like some women in the west. But damn, I wish the fellow guys in my country would have a much easier time dating and marrying.

Plastic_Tooth159 · 2025-08-15T17:01:23+00:00

Self preservation is important in any relationship in this world. The Hollywood fantasy of thinking love and marriage are the same thing is going to be horribly disappointing when it actually doesn't happens. Both require work and sacrifices of which a great many, too many people have not really prepared themselves for.

I had a running joke I tell people when they asked why I didn't marry. I tell them "I went to the book store to find a book on love and marriage. The clerk said 'love, aisle 7, top shelf. Then followed with marriage, aisles 12,-21 all shelves."

Doing your own thing and growing in your own way peacefully and mindfully may be one of the answers in being on the road of contentment and happiness.

pargofan · 2025-08-15T17:56:13+00:00

I think an important cultural shift is the institution of marriage itself: divorce rates are much higher now, and children out of wedlock have less of a stigma.

Which makes the institution of marriage less relevant.

Ciderglove · 2025-08-15T17:53:13+00:00

Is 34 "early middle aged'?

JubileeSupreme · 2025-08-15T18:02:01+00:00

...Because middle aged men who become wealthy after spending their youth building their career do not have the slightest chance of getting their pick of the trophy wives, waiting at the finish line....

Tumor_with_eyes · 2025-08-16T01:15:26+00:00

Good. Marriage does not benefit men. Don’t do it.

MapleWatch · 2025-08-16T02:02:59+00:00

I already had to pay for one expensive divorce, I can't say I'm feeling very motivated to expose myself to another.

TuneUnited8665 · 2025-08-16T07:02:34+00:00

Wait for AI to take 50% of white collar jobs and render all men jobless. Marriage rates are going to decline further significantly.

Massive_Teach_5166 · 2025-08-15T20:59:57+00:00

MTGOW is inevitable with the current status quo.

ayhme · 2025-08-15T20:44:20+00:00

They tried dating and realized it's not worth it.

Coffeelock1 · 2025-08-15T16:48:03+00:00

They may get different results if asking about romantic relationships vs career/independence. I'm surprised people still prioritize marriage that highly with how shitty the terms of legal marriage are. A life long committed monogamous relationship and raising a family together is definitely still a high priority, but I never want legal marriage and the family court system to be part of that.

Redsands · 2025-08-15T23:00:52+00:00

It is I'll advised to sign up to a one sided contract, especially one that will destroy your life and thaf of your children.

Icy_Guard268 · 2025-08-15T19:17:11+00:00

This is all speculation so I don't know how accurate it is.

Why would a man today want to be married to a woman? I don't see much benefit. Sure there is stuff like making a good environment for kids, which you don't need to be married for. I do not know if men have a right to their children outside of marriage automatically.

Then again if you are married and have kids it seems like they are not really the mans kids because a judge can just take them away and give them to the mother. The man works to provide for his family and therefore isn't around as much which is seen as a bad thing in the judges eyes.

There are decision making benefits, lower taxes and stuff like that. Even with lower taxes it would be better to not get married so then you would not be divorced if the relationship did not work out.

If two people are married and have a kid then they get divorced the kid a vast majority of the time goes to the mother and she gets majority custody even if she is an unfit parent. She can also alienate the child against their dad and the courts care about that at least. Even if the mother is unfit to look after the kid, and it really should not be in the best interest of the child to stay with the mother, the courts usually give her full custody anyways.

If a man does not get married then he can not get divorced, won't lose a house he put years into paying for and fixing up. There also is no 50/50 asset split or alimony if a breakup happens assuming there is no common law marriage which is a really unfair law iny opinion.

If the man cheated on his wife then he would lose half of the assets anyways, probably more than half. If the woman cheats in the marriage and breaks the marriage contract she also does not get any consequences. She still gets half the assets, probably more than half, most likely the house, the kids, and child support, and maybe alimony. There is no consequences for the woman to cheat and break her marriage vows. The court system does not care if she breaks the contract.

Face_Puzzleheaded · 2025-08-16T03:02:13+00:00

Wait, that's a cultural shift? In South Asia, families don't even let their sons get married before they have a job xD

keine257 · 2025-08-16T15:50:19+00:00

but the main question is who should you marry a women or a bear ?D

XboxeurMan · 2025-08-15T17:31:17+00:00

It's not a choice, females are either lesbians, dating 10/10 billionaires Chads, or prefer to stay single

Normal men's don't have a single chance to find love and happiness

The amount of efforts to secure a girlfriend is not worth it anymore when they just have to exist to have 50 dates in one day

WeEatBabies · 2025-08-15T17:19:01+00:00

Go young men!!!

corporate_robot_dude · 2025-08-15T21:35:12+00:00

It's not that men don't want to get married, but the fact that each step of the way is an uphill battle. Just trying to get a girl's attention is hard enough as it is with their crazy expectations. Any average woman could VERY easily lock down a man and get him to do whatever she wants if they wanted to. All it takes is a little genuine appreciation and respect, but most of them will stubbornly do their girl boss thing until the very end.

Pretend-Storm4566 · 2025-08-16T02:55:37+00:00

Common sense.

micia2347 · 2025-08-16T10:10:58+00:00

Common sense, good, what are you gonna do? Get with a girl and get accused of crazy shit? Not worth it

Jake0024 · 2025-08-16T03:30:03+00:00

Is that number higher or lower than 10, 20, 30 years ago?

Drakin5 · 2025-08-16T10:03:47+00:00

Just a shower thought, if a portion from that 61% are furries/scalies, they're probably (ab)using Ecclesiasticus 25:16 without knowing for their benefit or safety.

ButternutCheesesteak · 2025-08-16T18:46:03+00:00

I just focus on hanging out with friends and making new friends. So much easier than dating.

Demonspawn · 2025-08-18T18:44:18+00:00

Welcome to late stage feminism. Women no longer motivate the men to marriage.

The next generation will be men understanding that they can get by with minimum efforts. There's no reason to be killing yourself at a high stress job when a cardboard box as your nightstand is perfectly acceptable when you're not trying to woo women.

And soon after, our advanced civilization will collapse. And we'll blame it on the men for "not doing enough" rather than recognizing that we need women to fulfill their gender role in order to keep men fulfilling theirs to keep society advancing.

We forgot that patriarchy is the price to pay for civilization.

2137gangsterr · 2025-08-15T17:37:29+00:00

i think it's affordability crisis primarily

dgillz · 2025-08-15T18:40:58+00:00

Both.

RealStarkey · 2025-08-16T13:06:51+00:00

Both

Sea-Length-6052 · 2025-08-20T05:26:42+00:00

Best thing being is females are also for this, I plan this for my future life even without a kid. Or a man, respectfully I'm glad they're choosing this path so everyone can be truly happy and wealthy without worrying about who's gonna take the kid to school and who's gonna wash the dishes and mop the floor. This is decent!

I forgot to mention, I'm also happy that men will be able to advocate and be happy for themselves and show off alot of things they have and partake more in places that helps young men, little boys, and men in general. I fully support this

UnarasDayth · 2025-08-21T20:45:16+00:00

Call me the I word but I don't care. I can't get dates, a girlfriend whatever, and I have tried. I wanted companionship and got nothing.

When I do get matches or numbers, it's curt conversations and they make me feel like a bug. It goes nowhere and there's tons of hoops to jump through, only to get stood up anyway.

I just don't want to bother anymore.

HimiHana · 2025-08-22T10:37:51+00:00

I’d rather spend the rest of my life single than get together with a gender that belittles me for my height or my looks or only cares about the amount of money I have.

tzagoj · 2025-08-22T22:21:45+00:00

Men do not care about 'marriage', they want to secure regular intercourse.

Women, on the other hand, demand 'marriage', so they can stop giving intercourse asap. (They get the cashout twice, first in marriage, then in divorce.)

The genders are antagonists, there is no 'equality' in reality, and 'marriage' is a scam (of governments, religions etc) anyway.

By the way I am not totally against marriage for eternity, take womens rights away and I will reconsider. Leave their rights (privileges) at this day undisturbed - Okay - marriage is off the table.

mnight75 · 2025-08-28T18:33:28+00:00

Dude, this is Cultural Shift... AND Common Sense. I took this route several decades ago before it became trendy. I was MGTOW before MGTOW had a name.

It wasn't common when I decided this path, some ridiculed me for the idea.

I saw how the system treated my father when he and my mother divorced... I decided I would skip 2 or 3 failed marriages and dozens of years of child support and just have neither children or wife.

I was laying flat before it became popular in China ...

I have no regrets.

funnybillypro · 2025-08-17T17:38:57+00:00

lol feminists are not going to be mad about this. the response will be: good! break from traditional norms and do marriage *if you want to*.

Marriage is not a requirement for having a family or buying a home or getting a promotion at work or having sex like it used to be. This is all very good — for any gender.

and when you choose to get the State involved, you'll hopefully be more serious about it. (or we'll redefine what these marital contracts mean and what they do.)

PastDifficulty7 · 2025-08-15T16:54:00+00:00

This is a symptom of a hyper-capitalist society. I chose career over relationships for a long time, because I am always afraid of being the stooge. It doesn’t have to be this way. There used to be a day when we had a healthy middle class where you could prioritize family without becoming economically vulnerable.

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