Betty Diaries: Dating by the numbers

This year marks the 40th anniversary of a study published in Newsweek that triggered among single women what can only be called widespread panic. According to the report, a woman over 40 was more likely to be killed by a terrorist than find a husband. To understand the impact, consider this. Back then, Newsweek had an estimated 17.4 million readers. The statistic became a legit cultural phenomenon, even making its way into the rom-com classic “Sleepless in Seattle” seven years later. People paid attention. I sure as hell did. Only for some reason, I heard the cutoff as 30 and managed to dash over the threshold just in time. In hindsight, no one seemed overly concerned about men’s expiration dates. And here we are decades later still trying to calculate our romantic odds. Only now, we have ChatGPT. One of my friends, a beautiful and adventurous 40+ single, recently asked Chat to calculate the number of eligible men, age 40-60, in various cities, including Park City.

This excerpt comes from the named source. Read the original for the full reporting.