With the advent of the late modern era, Western societies are confronted with new trends in family life - pluralisation which is reflected in new forms of partnership and parenting and more and more individuals decide to stay single. Nevertheless, the imperative of partnership prevails in society, which marks single persons as a subordinate social category. Consequently, being single is marked as a deviance, while single persons develop different stigma management strategies. The method of stigmatisation is gender-specific - the society is pressing on women directly, while single men are treated in a subtler way. Women are therefore substantially more discriminated than men since the image of women as wives and mothers dominates in society. Although most single persons are not aware of social pressures, the desire of partnership can be seen as the response to social norms and dominance of the partnership and not as a desire for intimacy.
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