> They have to appear to be everything they're supposed to be. So they give verbal agreement to single motherhood, unmarried cohabitation, and so on, so that the culture doesn't condemn them.

But why?

Article>> Yes, she agreed, stability does matter to children; but having made that enormous concession to my point of view, she suggested jokingly that I had better leave now. It was not a concession she would make openly, and nor could she have articulated it in the course of the meeting.

Why is she so uncomfortable about saying it openly? Is this some kind of controversy I'm too un-elite to get?

We tell our kid "Don't be a single mom, it's a really tough life, and usually ends up as poverty." And she sees examples of this just looking at her peers' single moms. Not a single person I know would ostracize me for this take. It's pretty uncontroversial and backed up by data at this point.