Matrimania is the cultural obsession with weddings and marriage that treats being coupled and married as the only path to a happy life.
Matrimania describes society’s over the top celebration of weddings, marriage, and coupledom. The term was popularized by social scientist Bella DePaulo in her writing on single life.
It shows up everywhere. Endless wedding content, the assumption that everyone is searching for a spouse, and the way married milestones get treated as the ultimate achievement.
The flip side is pressure on single people, who can feel judged, pitied, or nagged about when they will finally settle down.
Matrimania is closely tied to what DePaulo calls singlism, the bias that treats single people as less complete than couples.
Noticing matrimania is not anti marriage. It simply questions the idea that one relationship status is right for everyone, and makes room for happy, full lives outside of marriage.