Dear Widowing: The invisibility you feel often grows in proportion to how insecure other women are. If they perceive you as attractive or as a threat to their marriages, you’ll quickly find yourself being treated as if you don’t exist. This happens to newly divorced women as well.

In today's Dear Annie column, several readers write in sharing their thoughts on why women are excluded socially after their husband passes away.

After my husband left me for someone else, our mutual friends stopped inviting me to their gatherings — only inviting him. One woman, “Sophie,” came to my dental practice with her boys for treatment.