Why male divorcees get more sympathy than the female
Finding yourself suddenly without a partner after years of being part of a couple could be soul-wrenching. You decide to launch yourself back into society, and what do you find?
Some 12 years ago, Yetunde was riding on the crest of happiness. According to her: “Friends and family were amazed when, in my early 40s, I announced that I was to marry a divorcee I met six months before.
My marriage that had blessed me with my two children had not worked out and I’d been determined not to make the same mistakes again. So, why did I rush into this marriage? Because we had fallen in love almost immediately and he wanted marriage very badly.
He reasoned that if we went out together for three or four years we would find all the reasons not to get marriage. What’s more, neither of us was that young, and if we wanted to try for more children, we were better off getting on with it. So, we did.
“From the day we tied the knots, I seemed to be living a charmed life – successful husband, desirable residence and a thriving business of my own. I blissfully filled my time between my business and school runs.
This lifestyle consumed me for a decade- and then came crashing down as suddenly as it had begun when, weeks after our 10th wedding anniversary, my husband announced he was moving to one of his houses – with a 30-year-old who was expecting his second child!
“Apart from being so devastated, I felt humiliated. But, I never bargained for suddenly being friendless – I no longer received air kisses – instead I got distant waves from other wives who no longer invited me to their fancy parties because they either couldn’t abide an odd number round the table or they would rather invited my ex and his new wife.
READ ALSO: Understanding Al And Nigeria’s Divorce
During my marriage, I’d enjoyed a wide social circle. We’d all drink together, dine together and attend functions together. Some acquaintances even became regular holiday companions. And, when you rent service flats together, shop together and let your hair down with them on a regular basis, it’s normal to regard them as friends. But it took the death of my marriage to teach me an unpalatable truth: that you’re only acceptable to others for as long as you are just `like them’.
“Now as a middle-aged, divorced , single mother-of-four, I am the classic social outcast. Once I was a regular at an endless streams of drinks, dinner parties and open-house dos, suddenly barely a soul dreams of inviting me now I’m the odd one out. I have become `that poor bitch whose husband left her for someone younger.
“At a recent 40th birthday party, couples partner-swapped on the dance floor all-night while I sat alone, nursing a bottle of wine, not knowing where to look. At my age, I could hardly dance alone, the wifes’ suspicious looks wouldn’t let me. It seems divorced women are perceived as a threat, even by their friends. It’s as if we metamorphosed into sex-starved man -eaters for whom any one’s husband will do.
“My suspicions were confirmed a few months ago when friends organised a surprise birthday for me. While we had a fabulous time, it saddened me that only women were invited . I had once socialized, holidayed and got on famously with their husbands for years. Now, because I no longer had one of my own, I was disqualified from socialising with theirs.
“Ironically, it was very different for men My friend Charles, a widowed father of two is invariably inundated with invitations. My mother believes that women are expected to, can, and generally just get on with enforced single life, while the average abandoned male tends to fail at moving on. Which must be why wives experience waves of sympathy for a `useless single dad’ and are driven to envelope, include and nurture him. He brings out their maternal instinct like a weepy, lonesome child does!”
According to a psychiatrist, Dr. Cosmo Hailstorm: “The tendency for women to ostracise their friends when they become middle-aged divorcees is a strange phenomenon. The superficial answer is that you become a danger. They worry that you might be after their husbands. But there is more to it than that.
“Once you are no longer in a couple, it gets complicated for people to include you. Wile they probably do want to invited you, they may think better of it because they’re embarrassed or don’t know what to talk about.
“Additionally, we tend not to build many, if any, new relationship in middle age. We make our friends at school, university, in our early jobs and then we get married, have children, and befriend parents of our children’s school friends.
“It’s unusual to meet new people outside that framework. When you divorce you lose half your friends because you lose your husband’s friends. This is noticeable as you aren’t making new acquaintances to fill the gaps they leave behind.”
How to expand those tight-fitting shoes
If you’ve bought a pair of leather shoes that rub or pinch, don’t consign them to the back of the wardrobe or shell out a small fortune to have them professionally expanded.
All you need is a hair-dryer and a pair of thick, woolly bed socks. Put the socks on, then, with your hair-dryer on its hottest setting, begin warming the inside of one of your shoes. Hold the dryer a little distance away from the shoe, so as not to damage the leather.
Once the inside is warm, put the shoe on and start warming the outside. Wiggle your toes and flex your feet as you hit it. When the shoe feels comfortable, turn the dyer off and continue to flex your feet until it had cooled. Repeat with the second shoe. When you try the shoes on without socks they should be a much more comfortable fit.
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