Marriage in America is in freefall — fewer than half of U.S. households now include a married couple, and just 23% of women and 20% of men have walked down the aisle by age 25, the lowest numbers ever recorded. On this episode of The UPside Conversations, host Marion MacKenzie sits down with bestselling author and media leader Ryan Dobson to unpack what's really behind what he calls the "romantic recession" — and why he believes the answer isn't as complicated as culture makes it seem.
Ryan doesn't shy away from hard opinions. He pushes back on the idea of "toxic masculinity" as a concept, argues that decades of media have quietly rebranded husbands and boyfriends as bumbling sidekicks, and makes the case that men still want to open doors, carry the groceries, and be useful to the people they love — they just need to be invited to. It's a conversation that's equal parts funny, convicting, and refreshingly honest.
The two also go deeper into what's fueling the disconnect between men and women today: a rising tide of digital habits and content that pull people away from real intimacy, and even the strange new frontier of people forming romantic attachments to AI. Marion and Ryan agree faith illiteracy has left a vacuum — and that vacuum is being filled by everything except what actually builds lasting relationships.
Where the conversation lands is the most powerful part. Ryan opens up about walking his wife, Laura, through a cancer diagnosis, and the humbling realization that marriage isn't about being the strong one — it's about having someone who'll go the distance with you no matter what. It's a beautiful, faith-filled reminder that with Jesus at the center, there's no problem too big to get through together.
