🙋‍♀️💔 Why you’re better off single ...

It’s Thursday, Boston.

💒 To everyone (read: no one) who said B-Side couldn’t score another wedding invite … B-Sider Lyric invited us to capture her $200 wedding at the Central BPL branch. Yes, we said $200. And it was amazing. Everyone say “congratulations, Lyric and Jon!”

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Why the bike lane barriers disappeared

• R.I.P. to the Pit

• MIT’s giant eyeball

Up first…

LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS

Why you might be better off single

We’re in a “relationship recession,” but many women are doing great. Or at least, better than men.

Here’s what to know:

🙅 Young people are swiping left … on relationships. The U.S. marriage rate has dropped by almost 60% in the last 50 years, and more Americans — particularly young women — are single, and more OK with it than ever before. 45% of 18- to 29-year-old women reported being single in 2022 versus 38% in 2020, according to the Survey Center for American Life. Of that group, only 36% are interested in getting into a serious relationship.

🙋‍♀️ And women seem to be happier about it. A 2024 University of Toronto study found that single women report being happier than single men across a wide range of categories: They’re more satisfied with their quality of life, their sex life, their relationship status, and have less desire for a partner. But why?

😮‍💨 For one thing: Singlehood might be “a more enjoyable alternative” to straight relationships for women, according to the study’s lead author Elaine Hoan. Women have historically tended to get the short end of the stick in dating and marriage. Think: More emotional labor, more household work, more “sexual labor,” she said. “Because of these sort of inequities … it tends to be the case that women ultimately have both lower relationship satisfaction and lower sexual desire [than men].” Oof.

👭 Another reason: The girlies. For singles, a big part of emotional fulfillment is “non-romantic support,” Hoan said, and research shows that men have lesser and lower quality social support than women. “Female friendship isn’t … a new phenomenon,” said Danielle Bayard Jackson, director of the Women's Relational Health Institute, “but people are really centering it in their lives in a way … that felt reserved for romantic relationships.” She’s seen women recentering platonic relationships in their lives, buying homes together, even raising children.

❤️ All of this has women rethinking their approach to romance. Sprinkle in our nightmare dating app situation and rising misogyny, and it’s not hard to believe that women might want to approach love more cautiously. The good news: A step away from romance as the end-all-be-all may ultimately help them feel more fulfilled in their relationships, be it with friends or a romantic partner. “Hopefully, the takeaway is: How do I reimagine … my own experiences in romantic and friend realms, and seek a connection that is healthy and mature and reciprocal and fun-loving,” said Northeastern Behavioral Science professor Kristen Lee. 

QUICK QUESTION!

🥯 Do you think Boston has good bagels?

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CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🚴 The mystery of the disappearing flexposts has been solved. Mayor Michelle Wu finally addressed the buzzy disappearance of protective bike lane barriers on three local streets. In a Boston Public Radio appearance, Wu said that the now-removed “flex posts” were never meant to be a permanent solution, calling them her “personal pet peeve.” She implied their removal will lead to more permanent solutions for the streets. But given Wu’s new M.O. to “be more reflective” about taking on infrastructure projects, it’s unclear if those solutions will include new barriers.

⚽ Boston’s (other) incoming soccer stadium is inching along. On Tuesday night, Wu and other city officials gathered to hear from Charlestown residents about the potential for a New England Revs soccer stadium in Everett. The residents emphasized they want to make sure the project, which is expected to bring heavy traffic to the neighborhood, means BIG investments in public transit, parking, noise reduction, and greenspace. And if the Kraft Group wants to get the stadium built soon, it should probably listen, since the project needs Boston’s OK to move forward.

🚧 R.I.P. to the P-I-T. The Pit, an iconic sitting area in Harvard Square, is being demolished (or pitted, you could say) as part of the square’s big makeover. The Pit’s removal is bittersweet because back in the day, the area was a place for local misfits, rebels, and anyone who just didn’t quite fit in (a.k.a. “pit rats”) to gather. In true Boston fashion, the og plan to demolish The Pit came about years ago (there was even a party in 2022), but demolition only started recently. It’s giving Parks and Rec.

🌚 Something … strange is going down at 2 a.m. It’s a blood moon! Also known as a total lunar eclipse, which will be visible to us New Englanders from 2:26 a.m. to 3:31 a.m. on Friday (that’s tonight). During a lunar eclipse, the full moon passes through the Earth’s shadow, making it look very dim and sometimes reddish, hence the name. The good news is, unlike our solar eclipse last year, this one requires no special eyewear, just go outside and look up! The bad news is it might be a little cloudy — keep tabs on the forecast here.

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ONE LAST THING

MIT’s giant eyeball

From now through March 14, if you look at the MIT dome, it’ll look right back. Seriously, because it’ll have a 75-foot eye projected on it. But don’t worry, it’s actually kind of a sweet story.

The giant eye is part of a project called “Gaze to the Stars,” by Behnaz Farahi. The project brought participants into a pod where their eye is photographed and an AI “guide” asks them to respond to a question about “dreams, longing, feelings, and struggles,” according to WBUR. The response is recorded and attached to a code that’s embedded in a photo of their iris.

Now, when the giant eye is projected on the dome, we can scan the iris with our phones and hear the story of the person who that eye belongs to. You can read more about the project here.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

👁️ Thanks for reading! You could say it’s putting the “eye” in MIT. Sorry!

🍀 The results are in: 45% of readers say they’re OK with rowdiness at the St. Paddy’s Day parade, but there’s a clear line. One reader said: “It really shouldn't be that hard to drink all day in public and NOT be an asshole.”

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