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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   30396 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 21, 2023

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A woman has an ongoing monogamous relationship with a man, she puts down that she's 'in a relationship'. A man has a monogamous relationship with a woman, but thinks he's a lothario who surely could be fucking another chick if he put his mind to it which he doesn't, and puts down 'single' because he 'technically' doesn't call her his 'girlfriend' and hasn't yet introduced her to his parents.

Technically, they are both single but in a case like that (if it's going on for more than a year), I think the term for such a guy is "dickwad". If it's monogamous, exclusive, engaging in sexual activity, and long-term it's a relationship, Algernon. If you just meet up for coffee, lunch, and going to the movies, it's simply dating (by older definitions) but not serious and indeed need not be exclusive (women and men could have had several 'dates' like that with different people going on because they were seeing several people casually but nobody exclusively or seriously).

No wonder surveys are all biased towards the reported experiences of women:

Definition and measurement of cohabitation As with dating, there can be some variation in how cohabitation is measured across surveys. Questions used by recent surveys to assess cohabitation status at the time of the interview as well as prior cohabitation experiences include (but are not limited to):

Current Population Survey. “Do you have a boyfriend, girlfriend or partner in this household?” (current cohabitation status)

National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. “Since the date of our last interview, have you been married to someone, or lived with a partner of the opposite gender in a marriage-like relationship where you established one household and lived together?” (prior cohabitation experiences) and “Do you have a partner that currently lives with you?” (current cohabitation status)

National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. “How many romantic or sexual partners have you ever lived with for one month of more? By ‘lived with’ we mean that neither of you kept a separate residence while you were living together.” (prior cohabitation experiences) and, for those who reported that they currently have a romantic or sexual partner, “Are you currently cohabiting with [fill first name]?” (current cohabitation status)

National Survey of Families and Households. “With how many partners did you live before your (first) marriage (including your first husband/wife)?” (prior cohabitation experiences) and, for those who reported having ever lived with a partner, “Are you still living with this partner?” (current cohabitation status)

National Survey of Family Growth. “Some couples live together without being married. By living together, we mean having a sexual relationship while sharing the same usual address. Have you ever lived together with a man? Do not count ‘dating’ or ‘sleeping over’ as living together. Living together means having a sexual relationship while sharing the same usual address.” (prior cohabitation experiences) and “What is your current marital or cohabiting status?” (current cohabitation status)

Some surveys (such as the Survey of Income and Program Participation) also use lists of household members (i.e., household rosters), and their relationships to one another (“unmarried partner”), to establish cohabitation status.18

These differences in the various questions and methods used to study cohabitation have resulted in some inconsistencies in estimates of cohabitation experiences within the literature. Furthermore, prior to 2002, one of the primary data sources of cohabitation (and marriage) trends, the National Survey of Family and Growth, interviewed only women. As a result, many of the trends described in this brief—and in the larger literature—focus on women’s union status and experiences.

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