Cover -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Table of Contents -- Introduction - The Single Scoop: Researching singleness and femininity 11 -- Popular press literature on singleness 18 -- Academic research on singleness 25 -- Methodology 36 -- Outline of the book 43 -- 1. Mediated Singleness: Textual representations of single women 47 -- The 1970s- Liberal feminism and the media 49 -- The 1980s- Backlash politics 57 -- The 1990s- 'Grrrl Power' and post-feminist programming 65 -- Sex and the City- Daughters of second wave feminism 73 -- Concluding remarks 79 -- 2. Singular Identification: Interpretations of the "real" single female experience 83 -- The Mary Tyler Moore Show 86 -- Charlie's Angels 91 -- Ally McBeal 96 -- Sex and the City 101 -- Oprah Winfrey: "real-life" role model 107 -- Concluding remarks 112 -- 3. Sex OUTSIDE the City: Lives of single women in non-urban settings 115 -- Locating singleness… outside the city 118 -- "Real" Islanders and those who "Came From Away" 126 -- Choosing to live on the Island 131 -- Dating and social networking on the Island 138 -- Concluding remarks 144 -- 4. Life Course: The complicity of academia in the denigration of single women 147 -- The 50+ participants 155 -- The 40+ participants 163 -- The 30+ participants 171 -- Concluding remarks 178 -- Conclusion Toward the Unmarginalized Majority 183 -- Female singleness as "consolation prize" to the "accomplishment" of marriage 187 -- Female singleness versus male singleness 193 -- Sites and stories of female singleness-past, present and future 198 -- Considerations for future research 204 -- Concluding remarks 205 -- Bibliography 209 -- Appendix 217 -- A: Single female-centered media texts cited in the book 217 -- B: Participant profiles 218 -- C: Interview and focus group schedule 219 -- D: Interview questions and concepts 221.