Some Reads for Tuesday

 We can only hope that the religious right, aka "Christian nationalism," actually Christian Reconstructionism, is on the decline in this country.

_______________________

I get so tired of the notion that in this economy, all these "single" women are "buying" more homes than "single" men.  It is bullshit, as far as I am concerned.

 The notion "single" women are more likely to be "homeowners" than single men is completely faulty because NO study breaks down "homeownership" by type of housing (stick house on a lot, condo, or manufactured housing), true marital status (never married, divorced, widowed, cohabiting with a man), or region of the US, or whether young "single" women had help through inheritance or through parents financing the purchase. Therefore, ANY claim "single" women are more likely to be "homeowners" than single men is a complete and total LIE. It doesn't pass the smell test because men overall make far more money than women over a lifetime. The great majority of women don't have high-paid "professions" like being physicians or doctors or executives to break into real estate; furthermore, those parts of the country where the minority of women make big money are in areas of the country where housing is most unaffordable and the great majority of these women are married.

To put an anecdote here: I live in a manufactured housing park in southern Oregon, and there is not one place where a never-married woman "owns" the house on the lot. MOST "homeowners" are either men or married couples. The few "single" women have either been widowed are divorced. This is the rule throughout the country. Marriage is still by far the major means of upward mobility for women. I call b.s. on any flimsy-assed "study" that claims "single" women are far more likely to be "homeowners" than single men. It is as good as a lie when this "homeownership" isn't broken down as I have stated above. Being a never-married woman in this country is a one-way ticket to poverty in old age. That is just fact whether we want to believe it or not. It isn't right and it isn't fair, but that is the way our patriarchal society is set up. Furthermore, "owning" a home is a sinkhole of expenses in terms of upkeep, unlike an apartment. In divorces, women typically get the house, especially if there are kids involved. This means these women get a giant leg up in real estate purchases should they sell down the road. This is one of the major reasons this "study" is a pack of lies when there is no study breaking down the true marital status of women, region of the country, or type of housing. "Single" is a complete misnomer here and I think intentionally so, in order to further the narrative that men are somehow "falling behind" women.

Greater "singledom" through divorce and widowhood is the real explanation why more "single" women than "single" men are homeowners.