Amy Diehl, Ph.D.
18% of heterosexual single women ages 25 to 34 feel unsafe most days vs 4 percent of married women. The solution is not for all women to go find a husband to protect them. It is to create a society where no woman, single or married, has to feel unsafe.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/06/15/marriage-incentive-no-one-talks-about-safety/
The marriage incentive no one talks about

Economics may no longer be an incentive to marry, but feeling secure is.

The Washington Post
Jun 16 at 1:37amWeb
Show threadHumphrey ArcherJun 16

@amydiehl
I wish I had known as a boy and young man how unsafe women felt.

I hope young men these days are better informed

Show threadEljorgeabidesJun 16

@screwturn @amydiehl

Me too. I learn that I may have only understood 10% of what it is like.

Show threadEljorgeabidesJun 16

@amydiehl

Do you think it's because single women go out more and meet more people where married women tend to stay home?

I agree that women need to feel safer and would think married and single women would have the same percentage.

Show threadMania EmmaJun 16
@eljorgeabides @amydiehl it's because men only respect other men's ownership: this is patriarchy
Show threadB.Jun 16
@Emmaf_77 @eljorgeabides @amydiehl Would be interesting to see if it's 4 or 18% for lesbian married women.
Show threadMania EmmaJun 16
@bhg @eljorgeabides @amydiehl it's not a matter of being married, it's a matter of being owned by a man
Show threadHollieKJun 16
@Emmaf_77 @bhg @eljorgeabides @amydiehl And protection doesn't come into it, men would rather not risk upsetting the "owner" of the woman, so go for "unowned" women instead.
Show threadB.Jun 16
@Emmaf_77 @eljorgeabides @amydiehl
...and it's probably more than 4% for lesbian married woman to feel unsafe. Patriarchy is so fucked up.
Show threadBirdhouse in Your [Redacted]Jun 16

@amydiehl I can't check due to paywall, but it appears they're saying there is data to indicate marriage (the legal entity of marriage, as opposed to the presence of male partner), increases security for women.

So to me the obvious short term solution is for women to marry each other.

Clearly this is simplistic and not a solution in the complex real world.

Show threadMania EmmaJun 16
@amydiehl this is pure #patriarchy
Show threaddisorderlyfJun 16

@amydiehl On one hand, I suspect the number will never be zero because a big point of marriage that has stood the test of time is safety in numbers. Two heads are better than one.

On the other hand, I bet those numbers has a much wider gap before women were allowed to do things like have their own bank account or vote in elections.

Show threaddivyaJun 16
@amydiehl lol the married women are lying to themselves.
Show thread✨pencilears✨Jun 16

@amydiehl Makes sense, most of the dangerous activities you do as a single woman are just literally everything involved with "putting yourself out there"

Like: Going on dates with strangers from the internet, hanging out in bars, and especially all the effort put into looking attractive (dressing well, dieting, doing one's hair and makeup)

most of the payoff for all that effort to look pretty is getting accosted by weirdos on the street who think they're entitled to bother you.

Show threadHollieKJun 16
@pencilears @amydiehl And by definition, married women are doing far fewer of those dangerous activities, and are more likely to be with their spouse when they're looking attractive (or someone believed to be their spouse, at least). It's not that men are protecting women when they get married, or that women get married to be protected, it's the fact that married women are perceived as being already owned by men, and other men would generally be looking for easier targets, where they won't risk upsetting another man.
Show thread✨pencilears✨Jun 16

@HollieK72 @amydiehl oh, ehhh I have a couple of Very pretty friends (one straight up looks like Anna Hathaway) and men bother them regardless of how single they are.

Like, if my Anne Hathaway friend goes out to an event, dudes will straight up pick her up, or wrap their hand around her waist and try to lead her away from the group, "I'm not single" means nothing, they think they can win her away, and then she's a person who handles conflict by being very charming.

Show thread✨pencilears✨Jun 16

@HollieK72 @amydiehl I think if you're attractive, but you're not at movie star level, "I'm actually married" makes reasonable dudes just bounce, but if you're wandering around being both extremely pretty and nice/agreeable the pushy dudes just will not relent.

Like, they don't know why you'd go to a bar/concert/wherever if you weren't on the market, and they will act like it.

Show threadHollieKJun 16
@pencilears @amydiehl Yeah, because they're only there to pick up pretty chicks and it is just a marketplace for them. Also, they can't understand why your Anne Hathaway friend is not there with her husband - if they were him they'd not let her out of their sight at all.
Show thread✨pencilears✨Jun 16
@HollieK72 @amydiehl he is, unfortunately, an asshole!
Show threadHollieKJun 16
@pencilears @amydiehl Oh, FFS!
Show threadMarcos DioneJun 16

@amydiehl what'a the area of coverage of the study? US, Washington DC, the few bloks around the uni...?

We're a global network. I'm tired of completimg headlines I read here with "... in the US".