I am in the midst of reading a fabulous book by Maureen Dowd called Are Men Necessary?. I highly recommend it. In spite of the title, it is not a feminist manifesto. It is actually a sociological study, so to speak, about the relationship between modern men and women. I haven't finished it yet, but thus far, the first 1/3rd of the book is funny and insightful. ...hmm. Looks like I'm going to have to do a literary review in short order.
Anyway, I was discussing this book with my engineer friend, and after I convinced him that this was not an angry feminazi novel, we talked about what men want. As he is officially a modern yuppie, I told him that he fit the profile of the alpha-male in the book. And that he therefore would prefer to marry a subordinate, docile woman. (For the record, I'm not calling him a womanizer or anything). Essentially, he wants a woman to take care of and be a housewife and such. So, after I made my prediction, he said that these were not new observations. However, he said, these predictions did not apply to him. (He threatened me with dire consequences if I told the rest of this story, but as he doesn't know my address, I'm telling it anyway -- my way :}). According to him, he needs a woman who works 40 hrs. Now, I'm paraphrasing, but he basically said he was too lazy to be the breadwinner, and so he needed a woman that could pull her own weight. PAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. What made this EVEN funnier is that I had just read an article in my favorite news magazine in which a man had said the exact same thing. This writer said he needs an alpha-woman so that he can spend his days pondering deep and important questions. Such as how to fit 3 big flat screen tvs in one room for the ultimate sports viewing experience. *Chuckle*.
So these are the men I get to choose from? Either that or quit my job and become the doting housewife? Hoo-aah. Be still my beating heart. (Insert swooning here).
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3 comments:
A correction must be made to this posting. The engineer did in fact say that he needed a woman that would work 40 hrs. but not nearly in that context. For clarification, he said that he wanted a woman that would prefer to work rather than stay home. The job did not have to be a breadwinner or even "dignified" among the general public, but simply something that the woman enjoyed doing. Essential, he was saying that he wanted a woman that possesses desire. Fearing that he sometimes lacks the quality to push himself to higher heights, his woman should be there to challenge him to seek more in life. The author of this site should be noting that a man wants a woman to make sure he does not become lazy once reaching a "breadwinner" status (however that may be defined) and for that to be the case, she herself cannot be lazy.
Dear "anonymous":
Thank you for your comments. We sincerely appreciate your continued loyalty as a reader and have taken your suggestions under consideration. However, we regret to inform you that these changes cannot be made for the following reasons:
1. Here at "The Book" we believe in reporting honestly and humorously. Unfortunately, your particular form of revisionist history does not maximize hilarity.
2. Although the woman doesn't have to be the breadwinner, men are still, essentially, lazy and want a 2nd, supplemental income brought in by another party.
3. You, my dear commenter, have cooties. :}
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