What do YOU want?
A recent (obnoxious) NYT op/ed piece, combined with seeing some of those silly "X-number-of-things-that-one-gender-should-know-about-the-other" recently enough to remember, gave me reason to post this.
"What do women want?", "What do men want?", "What you should know about the opposite sex!", "Who wears short shorts?"1... walk past a magazine rack sometime, and you'll see what I'm getting at. Common questions, but with such difficult answers that they apparently must be revisited at least once and preferably twice per year per publication. Or are they?
I mean, what IS so hard about all this? If you want to know something, ASK. Treating your relationships or prospective relationships with others, be they of the sexual sort or otherwise, like spy games is not a sign of healthy thinking. The enemy will not be tipped off to covert intelligence gathering operations that will, if uncovered, threaten the safety of millions of Americans should you ask for clarification regarding another individual's personal interests!2 In most instances I've encountered these questions, the question is asked within the apparent context of homosocial discussion groups. What possible good does it do for a man to ask other men or a woman to ask other women what it is that the opposite gender desires? How the fuck are they supposed to know?
So... just, you know, ask! Especially ask before you write embarassing op/eds for submission in major newspapers.
----
1 I wear short shorts!
2 Unless, I suppose, you are James Bond, in which case it's probably the lives of millions of Britons3 and we all know that by the end of the movie your lust interest will turn out to be working the criminal you're trying to catch and also probably killed by said criminal as well, but you'll kill the criminal and a bunch of henchfolk and save the day and won't fucking matter anyway, so who cares?.
3 Is that even close to correct?
"What do women want?", "What do men want?", "What you should know about the opposite sex!", "Who wears short shorts?"1... walk past a magazine rack sometime, and you'll see what I'm getting at. Common questions, but with such difficult answers that they apparently must be revisited at least once and preferably twice per year per publication. Or are they?
I mean, what IS so hard about all this? If you want to know something, ASK. Treating your relationships or prospective relationships with others, be they of the sexual sort or otherwise, like spy games is not a sign of healthy thinking. The enemy will not be tipped off to covert intelligence gathering operations that will, if uncovered, threaten the safety of millions of Americans should you ask for clarification regarding another individual's personal interests!2 In most instances I've encountered these questions, the question is asked within the apparent context of homosocial discussion groups. What possible good does it do for a man to ask other men or a woman to ask other women what it is that the opposite gender desires? How the fuck are they supposed to know?
So... just, you know, ask! Especially ask before you write embarassing op/eds for submission in major newspapers.
----
1 I wear short shorts!
2 Unless, I suppose, you are James Bond, in which case it's probably the lives of millions of Britons3 and we all know that by the end of the movie your lust interest will turn out to be working the criminal you're trying to catch and also probably killed by said criminal as well, but you'll kill the criminal and a bunch of henchfolk and save the day and won't fucking matter anyway, so who cares?.
3 Is that even close to correct?