My wife and I were having this discussion about this article I had read the other day and I got to thinking about one of the comments she made in response.
I was complaining about those insulting articles written by women about men about how to shop, act, dress, behave, comb your hair, stand up & sit up straight, say, "yes, ma'am, no ma'am." No I made last those three up. Seriously though, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Those TV commercials, sitcoms, and women's advice articles to men for this and that.
Her response: "Well, if men would listen to their wives." Mine: "Whoa, whoa...I don't agree. I think if they wouldn't tell us so much stuff to do we wouldn't either forget it or get it jumbled up."
For a while now more and more so called "advice" articles instructing us men and fathers on the do's and don'ts on each and every holiday as if we are incapable bumbling idiots who aren't even allowed to succeed before we are deemed a failure.
Here's how they generally go: buffoon of a man, usually a husband, struggles to have a clue as to what something is all about. Sure enough, an all-knowing woman (usually the wife), rolls her eyes and shaking her head in pity, is there to help the stupid buffoon of a man not utterly ruin everything. And, by the way, did I mention that the man is ignorant? In an alternate version, the children who are all-wise, and they help the idiot father figure things out. And of course we’re all supposed to laugh: “Ha, Ha, Ha look at that stupid guy. What an idiot!” The pivotal role of every sitcom.
New Year's we're told how dress and don't embarrass you at dinner or the party. Valentine's we're told what to buy, where to buy it, what to wear, where to take you, where not to take you, etc and don't embarrass you. Thanksgiving and Christmas we're told when and we are going and what time to eat. And it's not that we men don't welcome your advice and suggestions. We just don't want to be talked to and treated like a bunch of dim-witted idiots.
