Date-onomics

July 1, 2015

Why is it so hard to find a good man? Business journalist Birger sets aside popular dating advice and goes right to the numbers: supply and demand. Across most U.S. college campuses and cities, the pool of single, educated, straight women is simply larger than that of their peer men. Nationwide, 33 percent more women than men in their twenties are college educated, with women having attended college at increasingly higher rates for a generation. Birger argues that this disproportion enables campus hookup culture and discourages marriageable men from committing. He notes racial and cultural influences, including a dating advantage held by Asian women, and the state of marriage in Mormon and Orthodox Jewish communities, which both fit the gender imbalance but add unique complications. The author advises women seeking lasting relationships to consider relocating to male-heavy areas or dating across educational lines and suggests a long-term approach to balancing college enrollment by encouraging boys to delay starting school, to allow for developmental differences. He provocatively notes that a market inefficiency resulting from known causes is unsustainable, so future behavior trends will right the dating imbalance. VERDICT Birger offers a compelling argument backed by plentiful data (including a chart of gender ratios of major U.S. universities and cities) though expressed in an intermittently glib style. Recommended, especially for singles and those who advise them.--Janet Ingraham Dwyer, State Lib. of Ohio, Columbus

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2015
A freelance journalist's study of why young single women "struggle to find marriage-material men" while men "with less going for them seem to have little trouble with the opposite sex." A common complaint among educated, intelligent, and often beautiful women is that there are no men of equal status to date and wed. As Fortune contributor Birger sees it, declining marriage rates among young women of the middle class have to do with two trends: "lopsided gender ratios" and "a massive undersupply of college-educated men." The author examines current data from colleges across the country and finds that the ratio of women to men is now approximately 4 to 3. The notable exceptions to this "rule" include universities like CalTech that have strong math and science programs. This in turn has led to the growth of the so-called campus hookup culture, in which women actively-but in many cases, unhappily-participate. In post-college life, Birger finds that these numbers have also led to another demographic trend: big cities like New York becoming home to more available middle-class women than men and to situations in which men treat the dating scene like a sexual smorgasbord. At the same time, however, he does observe, based on both anecdotal and statistical evidence, that in certain other cities like San Francisco, which is also near the technology mecca of Silicon Valley, women have better opportunities for both dating and marriage. Birger further notes that working-class men-who are finding themselves without class/education equals to date because more working-class women are seeking educations-may also be able to give accomplished women possibilities they cannot now find. The author does not intend to offer dating advice, but he does provide fascinating evidence to show how and why dating and mating culture in America has changed in the 21st century. Informative and possibly useful to single readers.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.