“Now that women are financially independent, and marriage is an option rather than a necessity, we are free to pursue what the British sociologist Anthony Giddens termed the “pure relationship,” in which intimacy is sought in and of itself and not solely for reproduction. (If I may quote the eminently quotable Gloria Steinem again: “I can’t mate in captivity.”) Certainly, in a world where women can create their own social standing, concepts like “marrying up” and “marrying down” evaporate—to the point where the importance of conventional criteria such as age and height, Coontz says, has fallen to an all-time low (no pun intended) in the United States.”

- So appropriate! Ruth was just asking me the other day whether I felt the pressure to get married and honestly, no. Why should I? And in the same breath, I shouldn’t discriminate about marrying ‘down’ and perpetuating a social norm and sexist stereotype based on monetary reasons of the past.