Disclaimer: This is just my own musings and observations and opinions. I am not referencing any particular, specific news stories, studies, or the like. I am just venting what's going around in my head lately.
Some years back, I read a book - can't remember who it was by - that said that the primary role in society that nature had assigned to women was to civilize men. Without that civilizing influence imposed on men by us - presumably on both a personal, individual level and also a society-wide level - they would not and could not harness their aggressive and predatory urges toward positive, productive goals.
At the time, I was offended both on my own behalf and on behalf of men. Being neither liberal nor feminist, I have always quite liked men as a group and in many ways identify with them more often than I do with women. I have never had anything but contempt for leftist feminazi whinings like "All men are potential rapists" and the like. So I was outraged by this statement on several levels. Primarily, though, my reaction was, "How dare you excuse bad male behavior by trying to lay the responsibility off on us? Where do you get off burdening women with essentially babysitting and controlling a bunch of Neanderthals? Men aren't stupid and they're perfectly capable of being civilized for themselves!"
Well, after many more years of life, which has included twenty years of marriage and almost the same amount of time raising sons, as well as revisiting the dating world since my (completely amicable, for those who aren't aware of it) divorce, I have come to a conclusion:
Men are pigs.
It isn't that I don't still like you guys, and it isn't that I've decided you're stupid or incapable of self-civilizing. I've just come to the inescapable conclusion that, generally speaking, you guys won't CHOOSE to do so, and are apparently incapable of understanding why you ought to, absent implacable demands from females that you do so. Left to their own devices, men will inevitably drop to the lowest denominator they can manage to get away with in their behavior.
Think about it.
When someone says the phrase "bachelor pad", you immediately get one of two images in your head: either something resembling the dorm from "Animal House" after a weekend bender, which would require a flamethrower to bring it up to health department standards; or some version of Barney's apartment from "How I Met Your Mother", where everything is geared toward scoring with as many one-night stands as possible and the bed actually rolls away into the wall at the first mention of a relationship from the woman. There is no phrase regarding the home of a single woman which would bring up comparable mental images.
A man moving out of his parents' home for the first time is likely eat SpaghettiOs out of the pot over the sink - or even right out of the can - for the first six months because it simply never occurs to him to purchase dishes. (I'm not exaggerating, folks. I have actually seen this happen many times.) If he owns more than one bath towel, it's because his mother bought them for him. Women, on the other hand, will freak out if they're expected to live for more than one night in a new place without trashcans, towels, dishes, pots and pans, toilet paper, etc. To them, this is the epitome of "roughing it".
And dating. Oh, dear LORD, the truth isn't more striking anywhere than in this arena, thanks to feminists and the "sexual revolution". Turns out it wasn't women's true natures being oppressed and suppressed at all; it was men's. Once upon a time, crude sexual advances were the purview of construction workers and ghetto lowlifes hooting and catcalling at strange women passing on the street. Even lounge lizards on the make in bars felt the need to buy a woman a drink and make some small talk before getting to the point of what they wanted. But now, perfectly ordinary men from all walks of life think it's acceptable to approach a total stranger and, without so much as a how-do-you-do, ask about her masturbatory habits! . . . Or some equivalent outrageous remark that would give their mothers a stroke if they were to hear it.
It is now an event worthy of widespread notice and praise when a man 1) calls to arrange a date with a woman in advance, 2) showers, shaves, and puts on nice clothing for said date, 3) arrives on time, 4) comes to her door to get her rather than simply honking the horn from the driveway or texting he to come out, 5) takes her somewhere nice, and 6) pays for the evening himself without even discussing it. Once upon a time, that was so standard as to not even be mentioned. And if a guy does all that now AND doesn't try to get into her pants at the end of the evening, even if it's the first date, the woman will suspect he's gay.
If I ever remember who that author was, I owe him an apology. We stopped demanding civilization, and you guys reverted to whatever level of barbarian you believed you could get away with.
Feel free to now discuss amongst yourselves.
Hi
Cecilie1200
Yes and no. Yes I agree that men and women balance each other.
I see it more than men's brains only use one side at a time,
and compartmentalize as what is the individual's will and jurisdiction for autonomy
and what is someone else's problem.
Women's brains are more holistic and relative thinking,
focused on the mutual relationship and communication and reading
feelings that go beyond what people express in words.
This is said to come from women carrying children and bringing them
up and needing finer skills in intuitive nonverbal communication
as nurturers and caretakers.
Where I can show you glaring exceptions,
my bf complains that I am the pig he has to clean up after.
He is the one picky about the house and everything in its place.
He got that from his mom, while his dad was into ten million
projects in every corner of the house rotating around until he got back to them.
I am more like his dad with ten million projects I store in piles.
So my bf takes after his mom who balanced his dad
that I am more like. We do take after our parents in some ways
and can repeat the same patterns, but it isn't always aligned by gender.
Where the male/female thing does pass down:
women and people close to their moms tend to
excel in communication while people with unresolved
conflicts with their moms and families have communication failures for the same reasons.
They repeat and project forward if these are not resolved in the past.
ie "mommy issues"
men and people with control issues with their fathers
and authority, tend to project control/authority issues
onto their relations at work and with partners.
the control issues and fear of outside control or
influence oppressing your autonomy tend to
pass down the male side of the family as a male figure issue.
ie "daddy issues"
And again there is cross over.
Some females are the authority figure
and their partners tend to be docile to balance their personalities.
I know some business owners who are like that
and it's the husband who plays the caretaker and secretary role.
Still you can trace it to relations with mother and father.
and these repeat and project as relations between
husband and wife, and collectively
how we respond to church and state figures of authority.
the same patterns repeat, for better or for worse,
so the point is to try to keep the strengths
and correct or offset the weaknesses
by balancing each other in partnerships and teams.