Anti-marriage movement may be hurting young women, argues columnist

A growing anti-marriage movement is being fueled by viral TikTok trends and high-profile celebrities painting men as the enemy, but according to a new column, women may ultimately be the ones losing out.

In a USA Today op-ed, columnist Ingrid Jacques warned of a rising wave of “heteropessimism,” defining it as women’s growing feelings of disappointment and antagonism toward relationships with men. She argued that viral trends like “divorce glow-ups” and anti-male literature have actively widened the divide between the sexes.

“Studies show that married women are not only happier but also live longer and earn more than their single counterparts,” Jacques wrote on Tuesday.

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She explained that the media modern women consume is increasingly hostile toward traditional relationships, pointing to bestselling books like “Yesteryear,” which centers on a “tradwife” influencer.

In that novel, Jacques notes, men are reduced to lazy or toxic tropes: “Either a man is an idiotic man-baby who lacks ambition and a brain, or he’s a quintessential patriarch who pals around with other sexist pigs in the manosphere. Husbands are at one point referred to as ‘freaks.’”

On Amazon, the book’s description includes, “A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, ‘Yesteryear’ is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.”

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The trend coincides with falling U.S. marriage and birth rates. Official U.S. Census Bureau data from December shows that just 47% of American households in 2025 were married couples, down from nearly 66% 50 years ago. Of those married households, only 37% included their own children under age 18, compared to 54% in 1975.

Jacques linked the shift directly to liberal ideology, noting that left-leaning Americans choose to opt out of traditional family lifestyles “far more often than conservatives.”

“Wherever you look these days, women who ‘free’ themselves from the chains of marriage are being celebrated,” Jacques wrote. She highlighted cultural figures who publicly champion singlehood or life after divorce, including “Eat, Pray, Love” author Elizabeth Gilbert and model Emily Ratajkowski.

In April, comedian Leslie Jones criticized marriage, saying that most people she knew who got married are now divorced and arguing that “marriage is legalized slavery.”

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A 2024 American Family Survey found that 37% of conservative women and 28% of moderate women, between the ages of 18 and 40, reported being “completely satisfied” with their lives. However, liberal women of the same age reported only 12% feeling the same way.

The sentiment has also taken over social media through trends like the TikTok “divorce glow up,” where women post before-and-after photos celebrating their split. Jacques noted that in these videos, the women “typically look happier and more radiant in the ‘after’ photo.”

Citing Louise Perry, author of “The Case Against the Sexual Revolution,” Jacques argued that young women are being alienated after getting “burned by hookup culture” and lacking real friendships with the opposite sex.

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Jacques argued that, like Perry, returning to marriage, not abandoning men altogether, is the remedy for the cultural divide.

“That won’t be true for everyone, of course,” Jacques concluded. “But men and women need to find a way back to each other. Discounting marriage won’t get them there.”