Frankly, it’s self-evident to me that women are the more selfish of the sexes. The above-poster’s observation is undoubtedly true: these books flatter women comnig and going because they are the target audience. Yet the fact that this should be so also highlights women’s apparently generally greater interest in ego-soothing and gratifying – consider the shopping phenomenon, which essentially consists in buying a continual stream of presents for one’s self. It occurs to me that the supposed conspiracy-of-males ethos just pummelled into oblivion or deep corners of the red states is in reality a simple socializing regime to prevent women’s natural egotism from overwhelming the need for familial exclusivity. Of course there is male misbehavior as well, but just as in sex if there is no erection there is no sex, so in family if there is no female exclusivity there is no family. Simple biology and anatomy impose these limitations; it is mere hubris to try to theorize your way out of them. Deny this all you like; personally, I was raised to believe that this was not the case, that partners were equal – and indeed I think that, in the absence of instruction, that’s simply the natural sensibility between two people, two friends, as between lovers. Sadly, I find it very hard at this point to believe that anymore. It seems as though women would rather be, essentially, bought; to treat them in more equitable terms, which requires a certain recognition of quid pro quo, is to invite their complete disdain. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that, in truth, they are big children, with a certain incapacity for empathy. I’m beginning to think women’s famed empathy is less the genuine thing than something more like the eyebrows on a dog. Women want to be well-ruled – period. God I wish it wasn’t like this – I like the model encouraged by the feminist myth! But just try it out – 8 out of 10 times you will be amazed that the theory was invented simply to flatter women and flumox men. Yet another Eve-like example of female treachery.
