Sabotaging Our Relationships
Recently a woman friend confided the ways she gets a man do to something for her. She’s good looking, very personable, laughs a lot and is independent in many ways. I was struck by her honesty and the guiltless way she pointed out that when a man wants something from her, he would overlook a lot of difficulty. Some men, she says, actually enjoy it when the task is harder if the goal is in sight.
I asked how her current relationship was going and she said she wasn’t in one. She had not been partnered for a while though past lovers called from time to time for a little mental masturbation.
What’s wrong with saying: I just need you to do this for me? How about, I just need you to listen? These aren’t only issues for women; men pull the prima donna act themselves all the time. In the end, one or both people end up wondering what went wrong. Perhaps they think the other person is mad at them when it’s ‘just a little emotional blackmail’.
Honesty versus games? Who wins in the end?
Shawn Nichols
