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December 12, 2003

Mars / Venus

You know I reckon those people who suggest that men and women are from different planets are probably on to something. The thought was triggered after seeing this post over at Utterly Boring.

Women like to talk things over. At length. In detail. With repeats. They don't mind conversations that go on and on, round and round the same issues. In the end they achieve consensus or they get to do the whole thing again. Men on the other hand are lean mean problem-solving machines (2 out 3 ain't so bad). Give them a problem and they provide a solution. May not be a good solution but it is the best they can generate given the circumstances and the amount of effort they are prepared to devote to the topic at hand. Having done this they do not want to "discuss" the matter, it is solved, finished. Time to solve a new problem.

So ladies, let say you had a few issues in the day and hubby comes home after a shocking day at the office. You ask him how his day was - lets face it, he is not going to admit he couldn't solve problems at work because that is what he does - so you get a noncommittal answer. You load up some issues into the problem solving machine and he "solves" them. Don't be surprised if (a) he doesn't want to discuss them (after solving them) and (b) he appears to be "grumpy". That is a side effect of escaping from one set on insoluble problems and being hit with another lot.

Let's face it, do you pull out a calculator and ask it how it feels before you get it to solve a problem? No, it is just a tool and it just works. Well if you have a problem be careful how you present it to the problem-solving machine because once solved, it stays solved. If you reject the solution you may end up having to solve it yourself.....

All this reminds me about a comment during the morning coffee about this article which mentions the idea that men as a species are going to die out. What will happen then to the world? Those discussing it (all male) concluded that: "All the women will talk endlessly about world problems until the one with the most testosterone makes a decision :-)".

All that aside there are many reasons why men are happier (albeit more stressed) than women and you can find some of them here.

Posted by Ozguru at December 12, 2003 09:12 PM

Comments

Men shouldn't always assume that women are looking for a solution. We can accept that some problems have no solution but sometimes we just want to share with the someone we care about (and we hope cares about us). I do not believe that men are happier than women. Men need to learn to relax and just accept things.

Posted by: Lynn S at December 12, 2003 09:12 PM

Very inspiring, thankyou! Good luck to you in the future. :)

Posted by: SSBF at December 12, 2003 09:12 PM

Blog Roundup Here we go with a full version of the blog roundup. I have spent most of the weekend doing family / Christmas type things and that has not left a lot of time for blogging and this is sort of

Posted by: GDay Mate - Reviews at December 12, 2003 09:12 PM