Here’s a word for to
day — sologamy. It’s defined by Google as “marriage by a person to oneself. It is known as a commitment that values self-love, and self-compassion. … It can also refer to a self-uniting marriage, that is a marriage without an officiant.”
I first learned about this from a recent newspaper article, “Marrying Yourself Isn’t That Crazy”, by Leslie Barker of The Dallas Morning News (https://www.dallasnews.com/life/healthy-living/2017/05/22/marrying-trend-sologamy-crazy-sounds, the artwork came from this website). If the concept is new to you, it’s very popular in Great Britain, and “sologamy” receives over 85,000 hits on Google. You can even purchase “solo wedding” packages from a Japanese travel agency.
Why marry yourself? As a technical way of deflecting the “why aren’t you married?” type of question, the concept is becoming popular with single women. It’s also a way to built a healthy self-image. Malissa Melton-Otunba, a behavioral health counselor at Dallas’ Parkland Health & Hospital System, is quoted in the article as saying “Learning to love yourself is always the first key. The ceremony takes it a step further: you’re making a commitment, so you have accountability within your support system.” And it could set the stage for a traditional marriage by focusing on love and accepting yourself for what you are.
How far will this trend go? I suspect it won’t go much farther. My Google search also turned up articles like “Sologamy: The Saddest Trend You’ve Ever Heard Of” (http://www.dailywire.com/news/16451/sologamy-apparently-people-are-marrying-themselves-amanda-prestigiacomo ).
But in a free country that values self-expression, anything can happen.