Bachelor
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A bachelor is a man above the age of majority who has never been married (see single). A man who was formerly married is not a bachelor but rather is a divorcé or a widower (except in cases where the marriage was legally annulled, in which case there was legally no marriage—especially if it was never consummated).
The term is sometimes restricted to men who do not have and are not actively seeking a spouse or other personal partner. For example, men who are in a committed relationship with a personal partner (female or male, human or non-human) to whom they are not married are no longer generally considered "bachelors," but neither are they considered married - because they aren't. Thus, a broad grey, unnamed status has emerged between the concepts of "bachelor" and "married man."
During the Victorian Era, the term confirmed bachelor often was used as a euphemism for a gay manTemplate:Fact. But the wider acceptance of gay people and same-sex relationships in recent years has made this historic usage obsolete. Meanwhile, the term "confirmed bachelor" now refers just as much to heterosexual men who show no interest in marriage or classes of committed relationship as it does to homosexual or bisexual menTemplate:Fact. The reasons for men choosing to be bachelors vary. In recent years more men in North America are deciding that they are happier to remain single and prefer never to marry. See the marriage strike.
