ABSTRACT
For all the existing scholarship about single mothers, the relations between these women and the men in their lives (as potential or new partners) is a relatively unexplored field. There is much written about how and why women become single mothers, and some scholarship about the relationships between single mothers and the fathers of their children. Little has been written, however, about how single mothers interact with and make sense of their relationships with current boyfriends (especially when those men are not the fathers of their children). 2 This is a significant oversight, particularly in the early twenty-first century when the “traditional” family represents an iconic goal in our contemporary welfare system and when the current administration reiterates regularly its view that marriage can solve the problems faced by single mothers. 3
