“The most intersting women I know are single.” Zora says. “Instead of tiring youselves in a complicated relationship, you can also live just as well alone.” Finally, there are other things to get excited about other than male. And most importantly: with your besties, you can have just as much fun like with men. Zora is single and is looking back on how she’s changed in the last four to five years.
A friend of hers is telling her, what women nowadays are expecting from him: sentimental and soft, but manly and robust at the same time? How’s that supposed to work?
The increasing difficulty for men and women to form a good relationship together is also shown in statistics: four tenths of German families are alone. Around 1991, the number of people living alone increased by around 40 percent. Because the institute wasn’t able to ask about relationship status, there were only rough estimates regarding the number of singles. Sociology professor Stefan Hradil suggests that there’s a good seven million singles in Germany, and it’s increasing.
Over to the countryside and in smaller cities, this number is drastically decreased compared to major cities. But there are other problems by the countryside: there’s a lot less privacy and anonymity, unlike major cities. People know each other better, and they discuss relationship issues much more openly. But with that comes greater social anxiety and the gossip can be hurtful.