The Single Woman and the Fairytale Prince

Abstract

FOREWORD TO THE NEW EDITION INTRODUCTION PART ONE: IS THERE A MODEL FOR PRIVATE LIFE? 1. LIVING ALONE: A LONG HISTORY Intolerable Celibacy Great Buffalo Woman Celibacy Becomes Legitimate A Maid in Men's Clothes Introspection The World Turned Upside Down The Nineteenth Century: The Main Trend Begins Grisettes and Phalansteries The Break Dark Times The American Model The Scandinavian Model Crazy Times Uncertain Times 2. A LIFE DIVIDED The 'Accusing Finger' 'Weird' Uncomfortable Places The Family: What Can Be Said and What Cannot Be Said The Laughter of Girlfriends Betrayal A Cycle in Three Stages 3. A LIFE SHARED Back to History Premonitory Experiments The Personalization of Feelings A Model for Private Life The Mother-Children Group The Model Undermined 4. PRINCE OR HUSBAND? Facts and Fairies The Prince with a Thousand Faces 'Like a Love Story' The Prince Settles Down When the Carriage Turns Back into a Pumpkin The Prince Plays Musical Chairs PART TWO: PORTRAIT OF A SINGLE WOMAN 5. INTROSPECTION 'The Disease of the Infinite' From Laughter to Tears Double Reflexivity From Diaries to Blogs The Mirror and the Clairvoyant 6. AT HOME Fixtures and Fittings Bed Meals Wrapping Up and Regressing Freedom from Domesticity The Lightness of Being 7. THE OUTSIDE WORLD Going Out Other Ties The Family Work Being Oneself in the Outside World 8. MEN Arms Sex Man-Hunters A Gloomy View of Life Married Men 9. THE INTERNET REVOLUTION A Sudden Change of Epoch Love is Just a Click Away The Dark Side of the Web Real Life Men and Women: Sex and Commitment 'Don't Give Up' An Experience in its Own Right PART THREE: THE AUTONOMY TRAJECTORY 10. BEING ONESELF The Concept of Trajectory The Irresistible Injunction to be Oneself Oneself Widows Young People Women Who Have Broken off Relationships Predisposing Factors The Impulse to Remain Single The Lesser of Two Evils Two Trajectories, Two Identities 11. WAITING Dinosaurs of Love and Galloping Horses The Ravages of Love For Want of an Alternative Sentenced to Hard Labour Comforting Habits Extreme Isolation Negative Individualism 12. 'WOMEN CAN DO ANYTHING! Flight as Therapy The Logic of the Shell The Paradox of Appearances Women Can Do Anything Autonomy with Company CONCLUSION EPILOGUE DOSSIER. THE GLOBALIZATION OF SINGLEDOM: THE FIGURES The Irresistible Rise in the Number of One-Person Households Interpreting the Figures Late Marriage A Short World Tour Mail-Order Brides A NOTE ON METHODOLOGY Stages in the Research The Letters Constructing Hypotheses The Informants BIBLIOGRAPHY