Bella DePaulo, “Singled Out: How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After”:

Once I came to another city to give a speech on singlism. I took a cab to the airport afterwards. When the driver asked what I had been doing in Chicago, I was delighted to tell him. He then had quite a few questions for me.

"So, you're single?"

"Um-hmm."

"Have you ever been married?"

"No, never."

"Why not?"

"I love being single."

"Some guy treat you badly? They're not all like that, you know."

"No, no, nothing like that."

"Maybe it's not guys you like. Nothing wrong with that."

"What I like is being single."

"I bet some guy was too controlling. Wouldn't let you have your freedom. They're not all like that, either."

"No, it is not that at all. I'm not running away from anything. I just love my life just the way it is."

"You're being so negative!"

I was speechless.

Negative? The accusation shocked the smile off my face. All along, I thought I had been brimming with enthusiasm. In my mind, I had not answered any question in any but the most positive way. Yet the person who posed all the questions insisted that I was being negative. Plus he seemed incredulous that I could have such a "negative" attitude.

When I got to my gate, I pulled out a notebook and wrote down as much of the conversation as I could remember. Once I figured it out, it seemed obvious: The cabdriver interpreted my positivity about singlehood as negativity about marriage. I don't think it bothered him that I was single; I think it bothered him that I was happily single.

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