Disclaimer: I come from somewhat conservative country (India), so I may have some observational bias and differences.

TLDR: Society treats Married Men a lot better than how they treat bachelors. There's subtle warning of get married or be an outcast.

We discuss all the time how marriage has devolved into this losing game for men. More so, if we do point this out or even try, people go full aggressive mode. Still, a big faction of men get married in hopes of getting regular sex, companionship and belonging that I have hardly seen anyone getting. I've rather seen Men taking shit from women, women cutting off family and friends, disrespecting them and thier parents and being toxic.

There's this one way that society forces men tto marry. It's how they treat Married Men with more respect and how they treat bachelors with general contempt.

Being a bachelor is pretty bad here, Bachelors are looked down upon. People assume bachelors are just teenagers with earning privilege. Teenagers with money. And they treat them like Teenagers, not taking them seriously, poking un necessarily for them to grow up, man up and get married.

I recall once, this one dude is a few years older than me. When he was a bachelor he had trouble finding apartments for renting. Most people were like we don't rent to bachelors and then he had to settle with living in the outskirts of the city. Fast forward 2 years, he gets married and now gets an apartment in a good housing society.

Also, even thier own family members and extended family doesn't take bachelors seriously. And when they're married, suddenly thier opinion counts. It's funny and pathetic to watch.

Arranged Marriages are still a thing here. One of my friends, he also had the same troubles finding apartment for rent and was living with his relatives in another city. So he recently got married and now when he visited his wife's family, the lockdowns happened here, he's been living ther for 5+ months now. Just the other day he was telling me how he's treated like a king there. And how life's pretty fun, everyone respects him and he feela pretty good.

It's quite ironic, his is arranged marriage and he's pretty much a random guy for the family. They know each other hardly for a year now and somehow he's been treated far better than he's treated at his own home.

I think this is one way society subtly tells men, get married or we will be outcasting you.