The male brain

[FireflyGal]

I think that one good thing the article helps us remember is that we do often see things differently (even though I think that the article's wording may be a little biased and demeaning). I mean, one of the things in here made me laugh--"he may not remember the color of your sweater..." This is EXACTLY the sort of thing John often DOES remember. I'll say something like, "Remember when we talked about blahblahblah? It was on a date, I think..." and he'll be like, "Right, you were wearing that pink sweater I really like. Do you still have that sweater? Will you wear it again?" But John has a really visual sense of memory. He's also way better at keeping things chronologically ordered in his head. I'm a much more emotional thinker, everything gets discombobulated in my head and sorted out by emotions.

We've read a couple books on differences between men and women because they are entertaining. Sometimes we'll read the same book at the same time, which gives us something to talk about. Some of them, we really have found we are moved by and agree with. Some we've laughed off as being utter ridiculousness. I've learned some really valuable tips about how to love John better (giving him oodles of respect, making sure he knows how incredibly proud of him I am, making sure he knows how I believe in his abilities and talents and strengths and that I know he will do a good job at something), and he's learned some things that have helped him love me better, too (he's learned how to respond better to my desire for emotional intimacy, he's learned how to delicately tell me when he isn't capable of continuing a deep conversation at the moment-'hey, babe, i know you could talk about this all night, and I wish that I could, too, but right now, I am seriously losing focus...').

Even if the article may wander from the truth, I do like that it helps inspire us to think about ways we are different. And, of course, ways we are the same (which are much more fun to think about!)

[LadyMarchHare]

Oh, I have no doubt it wasn't remotely intended the way I've taken it, and the author would probably be shocked to find that people have reacted like that to what was meant to be a fun little article. But I just can't help feeling slightly insulted reading it.

I've read plenty of really positive articles talking about the same sort of thing, which follow the "men and women have different strengths" line, and actually highlight the strengths of the differences that men and women have. I just didn't feel like this article did that - it felt much more like it was saying "men don't have this, don't have that", the result being that it felt like it was saying we're just not as good. Except for the upbeat nature bit - whilst that is in there as a positive thing, I was puzzled by it. All I could think was "I don't know where she's getting that from - what about the suicide rates?"

Anyway... like I said, I'm sure this has probably rather derailed what was supposed to be a fun thread... whoops.

I think the MAJOR factor for why this is causing the uproar it is, is the article's wording and blunt-ness. There was no "hey he's just human" as far as I read (which really I didn't read the whole thing, I knew the gist of each section because I've encountered them before) which read to me like something you'd find in Cosmo or any other female audience-orientated mag. Those things demean both men and women. But yeah, seeing as it's text it's easy to take the 'tone' differently than the next person and even get offended. It's opinion mixed with a spoonful of fact and women, or the good ones, don't think that way as mllebamako pointed out.

[mattheww65]

hahaha... made me laugh because its oh so true! About me anyway :P