There are all kinds of men in this world.\u00a0 They vary in temperament, intelligence, philosophy, habits, health and any number of other traits.\u00a0 And likewise with women.\u00a0 They come in infinite variety.\u00a0 Most notably of late is their level of allegiance to the feminist project.\u00a0 So, they run the gamut from strident man-hating lesbians and cat ladies all the way to the maternal heroine of the Victorian novel who lives to help her children and dotes on her husband.<\/p>\n
But one thing I\u2019ve noticed about all women.\u00a0 When the bottom drops out of the world and the Huns are at the gate even the most misandric harpy that ever railed against the patriarchy runs around in circles screaming for the cavalry to arrive.\u00a0 And just to be specific they expect the cavalry to be steeped in testosterone and bearing Y-chromosomes.<\/p>\n
The best example of this that I can remember was directly after September 11th<\/sup> 2001.\u00a0 Maureen Dowd was and is a journalist for the New York Times and she has spent decades banging the drum for feminist complaints about men.\u00a0 Her contempt for men in general and conservatives in particular was limitless.\u00a0 But then the Towers were knocked down in September and suddenly policemen, firemen and soldiers were the heroes she wanted to write about.\u00a0 Suddenly she realized that the only thing standing between her and the primitive world that is held in check by modernity is a man with a gun.\u00a0 Of course, eventually she calmed down and realized that men with guns tend not to be feminists.\u00a0 And she returned to her default contempt.\u00a0 But for as long as she was scared, she wanted to be comforted by the knowledge that the patriarchy was keeping her safe.<\/p>\n And that impulse to look to the man with a gun is programmed into her DNA.\u00a0 She won\u2019t admit it because it makes her seem like someone who can\u2019t push aside sex-linked traits as if they were just \u201csocial constructs.\u201d\u00a0 And it\u2019s more than just protection from the Hun.\u00a0 Whatever the catastrophe, when the bottom drops out a woman looks to her man to make things whole again.\u00a0 And that\u2019s all women.\u00a0 The good ones are grateful.\u00a0 The dishonest ones pretend they could have done it on their own.\u00a0 They may even pretend they did.<\/p>\n But when Armageddon arrives, and you\u2019re busy trying to figure out how to save the day, it\u2019s good to remember that the women folk often need some kind of sign from you that you can save the day.\u00a0 And here the female psyche should be taken into consideration.\u00a0 Because even if there\u2019s nothing that you can think of to do the best strategy is to appear to be doing something constructive.\u00a0 I am convinced that a fretful woman who sees her man engaged in physical activity with tools of whatever kind; mechanical, diagnostic or even just a wheelbarrow will take solace from the idea that he is taking the lead and solving the problem.\u00a0 And it doesn\u2019t hurt if he assigns her some role to play in the \u201cbrilliant plan\u201d that he is already putting into motion.<\/p>\n Camera Girl, even Camera Girl is not immune from this behavior.\u00a0 She that has shared my life for almost half a century; knows me right down to my toes.\u00a0 And she knows just how lazy and lethargic I am by nature.\u00a0 But when I can see that something serious has scared her, then I know it\u2019s time for me to do my best Superman impression and let her know that I have a way to make everything whole again.\u00a0 Of course, most times I don\u2019t and maybe I\u2019m kind of scared myself.\u00a0 But admitting that is a big mistake.\u00a0 Morale is a very important part of life and if you let the family morale crack, things get even tougher.<\/p>\n So that\u2019s my insight.\u00a0 I recently saw an example of this that reminded me of this dynamic.\u00a0 I thought it might be useful information for others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are all kinds of men in this world.\u00a0 They vary in temperament, intelligence, philosophy, habits, health and any number of other traits.\u00a0 And likewise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2860],"tags":[516,993,4075],"class_list":["post-29870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-reclaiming-the-family","tag-maureen-dowd","tag-the-war-between-men-and-women","tag-women"],"yoast_head":"\n