One layer I'd add is that some of the independence is less reality and more illusion. The single man might not need a woman to cook for him, but he probably still relies on women (or men) to do a lot of his cooking. It's just abstracted away from a wife at home who doesn't get paid in money, to cooks and Door dash drivers who he can just pay as a one off service. The single mom might not need a man to grow her food in the form of a husband on the farm, but it's still a man somewhere growing that food, and a man paying the taxes to provide the food stamps she uses to buy that food. Since men are net tax payers over their lifetime and women are net tax receivers, there a lot of support still happening, just in an abstracted way that's not transparent.
I don't know if there's a solution, but I do know that if there isn't and demographic collapse continues its trajectory, the complex civilization we have that allows this illusionary "independence" will collapse, and men and women will go back to depending on each other for basic necessities of life.
quotingI agree with 90% of what you’re saying but I’m going to push back on the religion aspect. It’s not so much that we’ve “lost religion,” but that male/female roles have changed. Men and women literally needed each other before. When you needed to farm in order to survive, losing your partner meant death. A woman couldn’t have high standards because her life was at risk. A man couldn’t afford to divorce his wife because he needed her help with the children and farm. How can a single mom or single dad survive with children and a farm? It’s impossible so they didn’t even really think about it. But now, all these responsibilities have been automated. A man doesn’t need a woman to take care of his home. He can easily order his dinner and have it delivered through doordash or pop in a microwaveable tv dinner. He can turn on a roomba to sweep the floors or hire a maid. The woman doesn’t need the man to work and pay his bills, she is doing it herself. She doesn’t need the man to protect her, she can carry a gun. The main thing left that men and women truly need from each other is a way to make babies. But you can find anyone to make babies with if you lower your standards. So people look for deep fulfillment from their partner now. They want that perfect romance and a best friend all in one. It’s not unreasonable to want that but you can get stuck looking for that perfect person and you may never find it. And for women this is a lot more problematic because their reproductive clock is much shorter and their peak beauty and fertility is at an age when they are still learning about who they are and what they want from their life. I didn’t really mature until my late 20s and didn’t get a good idea of what I wanted from life before the age of 30.
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If those women were to settle for someone and lower their standards, just like men, they’d always wonder what could have been if they didn’t settle. Would they have been miserable and divorced? Would they have felt unsatisfied and chosen to cheat later on?
There’s a lot more nuance to the problem and I think that when Bitcoin replaces fiat, the issue of wanting a wealthy man starts to become less of a problem. More men will be wealthy and women will have more options to choose from compatible men instead of fighting over the few rich guys.