Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies - Volume 28, Issue 2/3, 2025

The framing of singleness as a decision and lifestyle is a relatively new social phenomenon. In this article, I argue for singlehood to be described as an independent social category and identity, not just a relationship status. This argument also allows for a more intersectional approach to discussing singleness, race, gender, and age, as single studies have mainly remained homogenous, focusing on white European and North American women. Historically, the experiences of marriage and motherhood have been dissimilar for women of colour (WOC) in comparison to their white counterparts. My research focuses on the historical and cultural positionality of Women of Colour and how single and childfree WOC construct their identity through their personal experiences and is rooted in self-reliance. These women, who have remained single and childfree, have a distinct point of view, and their narratives can demonstrate how patriarchy, capitalism, and heterogender family structures operate. My research centres on Women of Colour who are not defined by whom they marry or the children they raise. They are creating their own identities, defining their happiness, and using travel as a form of feminist praxis.

This article examines the intersection of singlehood and fatness in India, a context where deep-seated cultural and social norms shape personal identity and societal perceptions. While marriage remains a key milestone, single individuals, particularly unmarried women face significant scrutiny, with fatness further compounding their marginalization. The study addresses a critical gap by exploring how dominant beauty standards and societal expectations over centuries contribute to the stigmatization of fat, single individuals, affecting their self-esteem, social relationships, and life opportunities. To analyze singlehood and fatness, This study employs close reading of cultural narratives, media portrayals, and personal experiences to analyze how fatness influences the perception of singlehood in India especially struggling with issues like PCOD/PCOS, infertility, motherhood and social stigmatization, which impacts their self-esteem and overall life experiences. Selected texts serve as cultural mirrors, revealing deep-rooted biases and norms shaping body politics and relational expectations in India. Media representations often depict fat individuals as undesirable or comedic, reinforcing stereotypes that link slimness with desirability and marital success. Issues like body shaming, societal alienation, and limited access to opportunities, reveal the broader implications on mental health and their marginal status. By engaging with theoretical perspectives from Bella DePaulo, Sreemoyee Piu Kundu, and Christopher E. Forth, this article challenges dominant narratives and advocates for more inclusive representations of beauty and desirability.

In neoliberalised academia where outputs are highly coveted, single, childfree women of colour (WoC) with PhDs navigate the triality of race, gender, and singlehood in exceling at work while also seeking romance. Taking an intersectional approach, this paper is an autoethnographic examination of my struggles as a WoC who excels academically at a often hostile workplace and seeks romantic partnership in a predominately white world. I show that universities remain a site of racism, sexism, and singlism where WoC are required to work harder to prove their qualifications than their white counterparts and single women are expected to pick up more work than their married colleagues with children. Through WoC’s careful navigation of the power dynamics in heterosexual relationships, I demonstrate, using my own experience as a point of entry, that many WoC academics provide the emotional work to avoid hurting men’s fragile masculinity and thereby subconsciously contribute to the hypermasculinised dating culture. This paper offers important perspectives for understanding how single, childfree WoC with PhDs struggle with and defy the gender expectations placed on them while seeking romance.