Singled Out

People who are single are changing the face of America. Did you know that:
* More than 40 percent of the nation's adults—-over 87 million people—-are divorced, widowed, or have always been single.
* There are more households comprised of single people living alone than of married parents and their children.
* Americans now spend more of their adult years single than married.
Many of today's single people have engaging jobs, homes that they own, and a network of friends. This is not the 1950s—-singles can have sex without marrying, and they can raise smart, successful, and happy children. It should be a great time to be single. Yet too often single people are still asked to defend their single status by an onslaught of judgmental peers and fretful relatives.
Prominent people in politics, the popular press, and the intelligentsia have all taken turns peddling myths about marriage and singlehood. Marry, they promise, and you will live a long,…