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An article by Grace Emily Stark for the Institute for Family Studies blog describes how Millennials are embracing the “child-free” lifestyle by getting sterilized. Stark chalks it up to a number of different fears, including tokophobia, the cost of raising children or bringing them into “uncertain times.” She writes that after years of enduring the “the risks and side effects” of hormonal birth control, Millennial women are turned off from embracing their fertility. Not to mention how culture incentivizes us to be unattached, unburdened, and autonomous selves while setting relatively low expectations for marriage and family. Stark wonders whether intentional childlessness is the “cause or symptom” of Millennial loneliness, burnout, and depression, given their lower rates of marriage and childbearing relative to previous generations.

Business Insider recently blamed “post-World War II” marriage and family values for single women’s high cost of living. Citing “penalties” accrued across the rental and home-buying industries to workplaces and the tax code, the author attempts to argue that the economic strains placed on single people, particularly young single women, are the result of obsolete economic policymaking. Here’s why we push back on the idea that single people are being penalized for their relationship status and why our government should incentivize marriage and family.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and Princeton University Health Services is getting ready to celebrate with a “LATEXhibition” in which Princeton students will compete for prizes by creating “something beautiful and educational out of expired latex condoms.” That’s right – on Feburary 14 (now marketed as National Condom Day) students will not be encouraged to evaluate their own dating practices, to establish healthy boundaries, or to think about what a happy, fulfilling relationship might be like. It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that such an event would be held on University grounds, given its track record and the event sponsor’s stated values, which expressly call for “harm reduction” instead of “abstinence or prohibition.” In other words, virtues like temperance and chastity, prudence and modesty are not only out-of-bounds, but a threat to the very existence of social justice initiatives which seek to wipe traditional norms from our cultural memory. The nature and meaning of selfless love, which Valentine’s Day should signify, has been obscured by commercialization and trivialities like condom art.

Two couples are making headlines for holding virtual, “metaverse” weddings, in addition to their real ceremonies. Since Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that Facebook, Inc. would be renamed Meta, debates have raged over whether the metaverse will be a boon or a curse for society. As with any new technology, the metaverse is likely to be a mixture of both. When it comes to relationships, however, this powerful blend of virtual and augmented realities will likely exacerbate some of the existing issues we have with social media. Alienation and attention issues are the least of its possible impact. Virtual relationships, driven by novelty and abstraction, are opposed to the constancy and intimacy real life relationships require. In the case of marriage, these are non-negotiable. However, it’s easy to imagine that some will argue to validate virtual unions in the coming years as the metaverse and similar technologies expand.

Between Christmas and New Years’ Day, a time when most families are celebrating the holidays, the Atlantic published “How I Demolished My Life: A Home Improvement Story” by staff writer Honor Jones, about her home renovation and subsequent divorce. Much like two recent critically acclaimed films which depict divorce as a kind of freedom from the limitations of marriage – Netflix’s Marriage Story and HBO’s reboot of the 1973 Swedish miniseries Scenes From a Marriage – Jones’ reflection dramatizes her own ill-defined quest for personal fulfillment, leaving her spouse and children, as well as their feelings, by the wayside.