Silencing the single woman: Negotiating the ‘failed’ feminine subject in contemporary UK society

Kate R Gilchrist

doi:10.1177/13634607211041100

Abstract

Despite a growth in single women in UK society over the past two decades, single femininity continues to be highly stigmatised. Drawing on Judith Butler’s theory of the heterosexual matrix and applying this to qualitative interview data with 25 single women, I argue that single femininity is produced as abject through processes of silencing which render the single female a ‘failed’ subject and reinscribe heteronormative coupled femininity. Yet while deeply painful, such ‘failures’ may also be productive, offering moments where the boundaries of heteronormative feminine subjectivity and hierarchies of intimate life are troubled and transformed. This article complicates understandings of stigma and resistance through a nuanced analysis of processes of abjectification and ambivalence.

Highlights

While the number of single women in the UK is growing, their lived experience remains under-researched
It is increasingly important to consider what consequences such privileging has on female subjects positioned outside the heteronormative, familial, coupled feminine norm and who engage in alternative non-romantic, non-kinship relationship structures
I draw on 25 interviews with single women to investigate how single female subjectivities are being constructed and negotiated in contemporary UK society

Summary

Introduction

While the number of single women in the UK is growing, their lived experience remains under-researched. I build on this work, but focus on feminine subjectivity, to deepen understandings of how the alternative relationship formations – such as non-monogamous relationships and the decentring of romantic, sexual love – of single women may offer more transformatory or radical constructions of femininity.

Results

Conclusion