“”According to Pew Research, only 38 percent of single women in the US are currently looking for a relationship. Among single men, that number jumps to 61 percent. The gap says a lot. Women aren’t opting out of love. They’re opting out of being someone’s therapist with benefits.”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/mankeeping-is-why-women-are-done-with-dating/
Vice magazine asserts that 62% of single woman are opting out of dating because: they don’t want to be a male’s “therapist with benefits”.
Maybe I’m suffering from willful male blindness, but IMO, Vice’s assertion is highly unlikely.
Your thoughts?”
No blindness, the topic has validity & a hypocrisy.
π‘️There’s a double caveat to this that we miss: It’s no doubt many people in general are emotional vampires, & there’s no question that men aren’t reciprocating the support they receive specifically at the same rate, not that they don’t support women social/emotionally/physically at all, but not the exact same frequency, that is 100% true.
Why? because men aren’t as cognizant of emotional laboring as much as women are with the same intensity that women do.
That’s not on men, that’s just women’s wiring; but for men, however, one can be mindful to be more supportive. It not being a conscious concern is no excuse to be inconsiderate.
But the caveat to making this a national discussion (as if it’s not disgusting to consider caring for your children or giving a damn about your partner is now labeled “unpaid labor”, which is beyond alien and unacceptable)-
if you’ve had mothers or sisters or female friends at minimum, on top of partners, you’ll know that women cost every labor there is for men (including their monthly hormonal imbalances that you are expected to display understanding & patience with) and they do not always give that respect back either at the same volume, if at all. You can spend thousands on a woman, grand gestures & get none of that reciprocated. Buying women drinks most times isn’t reciprocated.
Soooo where’s “Womankeeping”? Is it woman+keeping? Or is it just giving a shit about the woman you are with?
Is it man+keeping? Or is it just giving a shit about the man, and the agenda this year is making being a partner a matter of burden & unpaid labor- as if the Federal Gov. should be paying women to do something as simple as care about other people or raise their own damn children.
Western Women are being groomed to be incompatible with stable human connection.
So women complaining about reciprocation is both understandable here, but \*ironic in grand scheme because one-sided deals once upon a time was just called
-
“the dating game”
and no one questioned that because women benefited.\* Point being: *It’s only a topic now because women are complaining or being signaled to complain about a disparity. So this isn’t about reciprocation solely or fairness, this is about women’s lack of gain & because women are the disgruntled, & due to that fact, only now does society give a damn.*
A relationship in modernity basically means “Her comfort & convenience”
π‘️ **The second caveat point is: Lesbian **women tend to perform more social/emotional labor than men regardless of relationship type**.
So what have we learned? Many Men don’t reciprocate, because women (gay or straight) do too much no matter who they love with. TL;DR men aren’t the problem here, actually-- because no matter who she dates, gay women tend to give more equitable emotional contribution, yet still give emotional labor inequivalently because that’s their socialization and instinct. Even two women can’t pace the other at exactly the same or “equal” volume. *Stop whipping men for not thinking like women, when lesbians go through the same exact challenges, with no man to blame.*
π‘️Thirdly, a lot of it has to do with personality, and the people you attract. I know a lot of emotionally available men, too much so tbh. And I emotionally/socially labor for almost everyone I know but I wouldn’t call it a “burden” just because they’re not doing the same for me at the exact same frequency. That’s dumb and petty.
Why? Cause how am I going to incriminate someone for not doing what I chose to do? AT THE SAME FREQUENCY? Not that they’re not doing it 0% which is neglect and abandonment but they’re not doing it at a volume I deem acceptable per what I chose to do.
**the common thread is moderating how much we give.**
(which is why some women opting out is a good thing, let the weak-links leave, let part of the problem remove itself. Let them be happy alone & free.)
\# Now to be fair, the common context is lack of “reciprocity” of being a one-man emotional support system, not the labor itself (allegedly), so let’s not misrepresent the case the they’re making
* However it is also true that American Women want their needs met at the exact same time, AND THEN DON’T RECIPROCATE what they do get from men, especially financially, psychologically, time labor, & physically. etc. So why are we sitting here pretending women have a moral high ground on **RECIPROCATING** of all concepts when getting something for nothing is damn near iconic for most western privileged women. π️ππ️
Burnout is not exclusive to women in relationships, why do we think men have Mancaves in the first place? To get a break from social/emotional laboring for the woman. Where have you been the past 65 years? Always a victim narrative when outlets hijack the talking point, I don’t know how American men put up with it. Or how Society accepts this narrative that taking care of your own child is considered “unpaid labor”?
That’s not at all disrespectful, to any of us? Why doesn’t anyone ever challenge this crap? Just because they have credentials, doesn’t mean experts don’t have moments of ignorance.
If i’m not acknowledged or given a trophy for being a basic level decent human being, and or I’m not getting paid for it-- What the fuck kind of attitude is that?
Women are being set on a path to be the worst society has to offer.
Why do I say that? Think about it, for a while, I genuinely believed American males were the total issue and they just couldn’t handle American women but then I realized---
* Many foreign men of education & quality pass on American ladies too, hard pass. ¯\_(γ)_/¯
Who wants to procreate with someone who’d think raising an innocent baby, not someone else’s baby, THEIR own child: was an unpaid gig? that’s disrespectful, and the very notion should be criticized.
Caring for your future is something you have to be acknowledged for. That’s the mentality of a teenager, not a woman, not a mate, that’s a liability. That’s signaling a conflict with evolutionary advantages.
(and it’s not even American women’s fault, their venomous culture grooms that into them. It’s making them incompatible with human connection. Giving a shit about anything or anyone, & it’s not given back *because how tf is a baby going to reciprocate caregiving? thats how stupid this is*, all of which is now a labor, or so women have been told to think. That is why American/Western women are undesirable, it has nothing to do with your education, and everything to do with the lack of maturity, respect, and that disgusting egotistical attitude.) You can’t just bring up reciprocity but not consider for a second what you haven’t given back the entire time. The fact that men have ALWAYS been emotional sponges & dump sites for Women’s trauma.
Especially as a woman in a first world country. Not second, FIRST world.
π Side-bar:
“What women want isn’t complicated. They want shared effort. Mutual support. Emotional responsibility that doesn’t get passed off like a group project. When that doesn’t happen, they’re choosing solitude over stress. And they’re not apologizing for it.
Some women are called bitter for stepping back from dating. Others are labeled cold. What they’re really doing is protecting their capacity. The choice to stay single rarely comes from defeat. It comes from knowing exactly how much energy they have left to give. Until that imbalance shifts, more women will keep walking away. Being alone is easier than managing someone else’s emotional life. “
You don’t apologize because a lot of us think one’s will is above challenge, when do American women ever apologize or humble themselves to be part of the solution? Vs exacerbating the problem that exists to make it men’s project to solve.
Despite what we give (as stated as a caveat), we want simple things in return that we’re not giving back via what he’s doing at the same time, so it’s shared effort but on women’s terms, not what’s fair.
We want returns on our givings, but not considering what we give back by what he does. So what you want isn’t complicated, your attitude, & lack of self-awareness complicates what you say you want.
Because once upon a time men opening up was something you claimed you wanted, or you were told to want that, even the VICE article claims:
“Some men have started opening up more, which is good. But too often, that openness lands in the lap of the person they’re sleeping with instead of a friend or a therapist. Vulnerability without boundaries can feel more like a burden than a breakthrough.”
TL;DR you got what you wanted or what feminism/society/ whatever article told you what you should want- you got it, now it’s a burden.
Maybe stop listening to articles telling you what to think. This is why you should take outlets with a grain of salt, stop being told what you should want, stop listening to agents telling you you’re never the problem.
Beyond this topic, this is why you’re in this situation nationally, listening to these outlets.
Which aligns with opinions like this:
“Newsflash. Plenty of women DO NOT complain about men not opening up and being emotionally available. There is a vast lot of women like myself who want nothing more than for our men to SHUT THE HELL UP about their feelings and be adults. We want husbands to be our partners not children of larger growth that we have to raise.”
So stoicism or men opening up when they were ready / not crying into women’s bosoms every other hour wasn’t a problem? Hm. Funny how that works.
So, as usual, women were told what to want by progressive outlets or spoken for on their behalf by articles & outlets like vice (with good intentions, mind you), as to what women should want-- and usual, women, ever so independent of men but so obedient to their societal masters, questioned nothing and just ran with it.
Now you’re in this situation because of the exact same reason.
STOP LISTENING TO THESE OUTLETS WITHOUT YOUR OWN DISCRETION, STOP SACRIFICING YOUR AGENCY TO BE TOLD WHAT TO THINK ABOUT HALF THE COUNTRY. Because if men did that to you (& the Red Pill scene did plenty of this) you’d call it misogyny.
Listen to the facts, not the propaganda, make up your own damn minds.
And if it’s validating your experience? Don’t omit it, don’t ignore what it’s saying that’s true but be extra careful, because the universe isn’t your own singular simulation of life. Maybe you just have shite taste in men.
Bias is something even more dangerous, because vindicating women is how women get manipulated, it’s all about dropping your guard through flattery to then install fallacious suggestions that dramatized the truth into something fraudulent, then the whole thing gets muddied in-
*us vs them*, all over again and again and again.
That’s how Politics & Fear mongering works. It’s a science.
Studies are an insight into patterns & phenomena so one can have a view of reality, but these experts’ views of the facts are not reality itself, this is why you do your own research.
What these “experts” tell you isn’t infallible, nor above error. Even academia can miss or look over very simple, very basic nuances that can hinder whatever point they were trying to make, which damages the good of addressing what it is they’re criticizing.
So what what I’m saying here: the people in this study that started all this- didn’t say it before me.
Why? Because they lost the nuance because their view of the facts was their reality, not what the reality is in retrospect in mirror of the facts:
https://gender.stanford.edu/news/structural-burden-mens-declining-social-networks
So what happened is one is allowed to ignore nuance to make women’s immediate self-interest the only thing worth discussing here, a topic concerning the COUPLE isn’t about the COUPLE, just the woman’s best interest. That’s a modern relationship, her benefit, his servitude.
Which is why the main issue here is she’s serving his needs, and not the societal norm which is- HE’S supposed to be the slave to her will, when neither is okay, but it’s only a topic because she’s not on top. See how this works?
And that’s what is this really about, and that’s why Westerners will never make progress as long as you keep up this contrived, fake drama, Gender War mongering.
And we isolate ourselves so you can maintain a bubble of control. Where your only partner is self-worship and self-interest.
“Some women are called bitter for stepping back from dating. Others are labeled cold. What they’re really doing is protecting their capacity. “
You wouldn’t need to protect a capacity, if we managed it properly in the first place, women are only the victims of articles & outlets out to ruin the only chance at women’s happiness with men. It’s always, always, ALWAYS a fight with you Americans. It’s truly a social disease.
It’s always someone else’s fault, or there’s this coddling, smothering justifying framed in a victim narrative. It’s nauseating how women put up with this kid glove treatment, told to be Bosses & CEO’s but you never shut down these talking points.
All this justifying why women turned tail, when in reality, it’s simply failing a simple test of our relationships, women gave up and ran away, that’s what it is.
And for some? They genuinely function better alone, or some situations were really bad (abusive), but for most in this specific context, it’s just running away in lack of ability of seeing through what you chose to participate in. Giving a damn didn’t come with a paycheck, a key to the city, or something to feed thine ego.
Then the media is spinning this in a way that makes women the unsung heroes.
Which GUARANTEES women never improve how or who they choose, because someone else is always the problem, every single time. Every single year, every single occasion it’s another article about men doing something wrong, women are always vindicated in the matter.
That’s unnatural, there’s no quantifiable way that women are never a factor in how things go wrong for women in the lives of women. Pure infantilism. Pure enabled delusion.
Almost as if that’s the new rigid norm now, women being coddled by the zeitgeist.
Which is fine, unhealthy but ok, your culture does that, but women’s agency to change the course of the situation they’re involved in, their stake in it is the sacrifice for them never taking accountability for their part in the matter.
It’s an unnecessary sacrifice, all we have to do is try them with the same energy we spare for men.
And if that’s a problem? If that’s misogyny. Maybe how you come at men (tone & delivery alike) is what needs to change too.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/mankeeping-is-why-women-are-done-with-dating/
- Mankeeping Is Why Women Are Done With Dating
π
All this is- is the articles addressing women being burnt out because they ended up with a needy man-- not a man, *a NEEDY man specifically & the emotional cost of women in that situation is a real concern (that I’ve witnessed btw) but it gets dramatized beyond reason to broad-brush MEN, the enemy of women.*
Americans tend to take relatively simple situations like this and make it into a national pearl clutch to further demoralize your males from trying or give your women yet one more thing to be bitter about when in reality, they’re the common theme of the problem, not men. Big shock.
Not that women are the bad guy here, but the source of the pattern, very simple.
If men started saying women trusting them with their trauma/vents/dumps/shoulder cries or their monthly hormone spikes (which women can’t control) was a “burden”, or dealing with women was an unpaid labor, or unacknowledged trifle he shouldn’t have to put up with when what he wants he could just get from a sex doll-
“So what purpose does a woman serve? When a VR Waifu can woman better than a women during a time where women think everything is a labor?”
Imagine that as an article, that would make women feel horrible, & even if it didn’t for the minority that would just cry “incel”, it’s a disgusting and vile thing to imply, let alone say, or believe.
I repeat: “Lesbian **women tend to perform more social/emotional labor than men regardless of relationship type**. “
TL;DR The issue isn’t men, the common theme is women overextending. But when the narrative is making men the problem-- that nuance will always be smothered & suppressed, perhaps on purpose, but I’m going to hope that isn’t the case.
All you can do is be mindful to be more available, but don’t stress over “equal labor”, because again, her lack of reciprocity isn’t a problem in the gaze of society. Strive for fairness & consideration but keep in mind, men & women have different natural proclivities. Just do your best.
Lastly, to reiterate:
All one can do is just advise us be more mindful of being available emotional support as much as we can.
The pedantic/childish element here is while you can be mindful to be fair to your partner, but there’s no realistic way to keep score of who’s supporting who at what volume, EQUALLY, at all times, again, it’s asinine.
You’re fetishizing equity & over-complicating your own formula, while ignoring your own lacking.
Because what she’s not doing at the same rate you do for her, that isn’t a national concern, very convenient criterion.π️ππ️
Because lesbians face the same labor challenges, I repeat, so it’s clear men doing more isn’t the sole solution as much as it is Women, in reality, simply moderating how much they give at a time in the first place.
Articles won’t state that simple fact, but they will propose:
“Some women are called bitter for stepping back from dating. Others are labeled cold. What they’re really doing is protecting their capacity.”
Women are the victims. This is why no one abroad wants western women, they’ve been bred to be undesirable. Not intimidated by education or this hybrid sense of independence (because conveniently dependent on Papa Government.) as much as it is women of western world are martially incompetent, and again, they’ve been groomed & molded mercilessly to be like this.
Look at we’re talking about, their society literally invents words with “Man” as the prefix to condition an association of resentment with half of their country, when the lack of reciprocation, women do at the exact same time. But these articles hold back women’s role in the matter & only focus on one party. Who does that?
Why settle for a perpetual victim, when you can just go to another country & find a woman to be happy with instead?
Because no one can control or should have to control how much she gives, than she herself.
Don’t stop giving, but moderate how much, that’s just common sense. Why couldn’t VICE say this? Because their agenda, like everyone else, every other month, every year, it’s not about a solution----
It’s about a new divide.
Men aren’t the problem, if they’re not matching what you’re doing, and you’d face the same issue with another woman, eventually---
Then Women need to gauge their emotional/social reserves better.
π‘️Caveat: If the person you’re with finds issue with that moderation, they feel entitled to your support flow, then have a conversation about it and set boundaries. That’s the time to test them & set boundaries, but don’t exhaust yourself then run away or get bitter because you allowed yourself to get drained. And then claim it’s you being educated that you’re insufferable & impatient because you expect a therapist to bail you out of giving a shit/ or too much of a damn about the person you’re sleeping with. When once upon a time men not telling women ANYTHING was also an issue.
Pick a lane. Stop playing with men’s emotions, Americans have this “men perform” syndrome, what women want on this particular week, men have to go Optimus Prime mode & just transform on command.
It’s disgusting.
* Because if men wanted to complain in serious context that women don’t reciprocate on how much men do, perform, and spend for women-- my charge would be: *women aren’t the problem, stop doing so much then. No one can control how much you choose to give than you.*
Same goes for women here, putting the ball in men’s court just makes women a passive party, no accountability & takes agency from women, because they then sign of relief that yet again “He’s the problem, so he has to do for me me me me me me me”, as usual.
Same old crap that stagnates women’s ability to improve as options as is on the global market, let alone desirability in their own homeland, the same “not your fault” crap.
You don’t want to be a therapist, but him being an ATM, bodyguard, sponsor, therapist etc. all of that unpaid, unacknowledged, unsung labor stays right? Can’t even say he’s doing it with benefits, what benefits at this point?! What do men in American even get out it these days or what are they allowed to want?
He’s the man, unpaid is the default. But it’s a crisis when your labors are unpaid. We can not have this attitude & expect a future. Or maybe? The point is to destroy exactly that.
We can blame it on “norms” this & “systemic” that, that’s just deflection to alleviate choice and responsibility, to make it about a boogeyman, someone, anyone else but me.
Socialization has a significant hand in your cultivation, why & how you think what you do, but it doesn’t dictate your directives, because there’s plenty of personalities that defy the norms. I’m one of them.
You are not a robot, you make your own damn decisions, own it. If you’re giving too much of yourself, moderate it, talk about it, boundaries, & if opting out is the logical outcome best for you? Do it. Being with someone is not meant for everyone.
Very painfully simple solution your outlets & authorities WILL NOT share because your agency is what needs to be repressed, so that you remain obedient to whatever they peddle to you next time on American’s favorite sitcom “Men are the problem”.
Don’t stop giving, just control the volume. DUH.
I do it everyday, I moderate my energy levels that I give to people, instead of opting out of being there for them as a whole, sometimes I don’t pick up certain phone calls, just to establish boundaries.
I just control the volume, I, me, my responsibility.
That’s part of being a grownass adult. Not a reckless amateur therapist with no filter of their own output, then surprised or angry or burntout when a lack of a filter or a backbone results in exhaustion.
When you use an office water dispenser to fill a cup of water, you fill up the cup until it’s enough. You don’t dump the entire tank of water into the cup until it’s empty. You MODERATE the output.π§ π§ π§
Room for improvement is imperative, for both sides, men can be more mindful, but don’t let your country pressure you, or coddle you into complacency, bitterness & victimhood 24/7 and abuse you & your opportunities with any men on Earth just because you’re not the man in the situation. Take responsibility for what you choose to give in the first place, and don’t allow these agents to make you think human connection without a damn reward is a labor, don’t let them turn you into that monster.
And don’t let your country gaslight & abuse you yet again for the hundredth time- just because you’re not the woman in the situation, just be mindful of your contributions, do your research, and be considerate. Don’t be the tool, you don’t exist for women’s whims, don’t let these outlets beat you into submission, don’t be bitter against women, they’re being used.
Both sides are in the middle of something fierce and the resource is your defeat, isolation, and resentment.
¯\_(γ)_/¯ No one’s the villain, don’t allow your “experts” to sabotage you with good intentions.