Recently in Gender and Relationships Category

OTHER WOMEN'S VOICES
 Translations of women's writing
before 1700

Can We Talk ~ A condensed excerpt from Deborah Tannen's book, You Just Don't Understand - Women and Men in Conversation

In this excerpt, Tannen taps into the source of communication problems between men and women. She writes, "As a specialist in linguistics, I have studied how the conversational styles of men and women differ. We cannot lump all men or all women into fixed categories. But the seemingly senseless misunderstandings that haunt our relationships can in part be explained by the different conversational rules by which men and women play."

Marry Him! The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough ~Lori Gottlieb - The Atlantic

In this extremely controversial article, Lori Gottlieb writes, "My advice is this: Settle! That's right. Don't worry about passion or intense connection. Don't nix a guy based on his annoying habit of yelling "Bravo!" in movie theaters. Overlook his halitosis or abysmal sense of aesthetics. Because if you want to have the infrastructure in place to have a family, settling is the way to go. Based on my observations, in fact, settling will probably make you happier in the long run, since many of those who marry with great expectations become more disillusioned with each passing year. (It's hard to maintain that level of zing when the conversation morphs into discussions about who's changing the diapers or balancing the checkbook.)"

Child Man in the Promised Land ~Kay Hymowitz - City Journal 

In this humorous, yet critical commentary on the lifestyle choices of today's young males, Hymowitz argues that men in their 20's and 30's drift within a state of eternal boyhood. While our popular culture has embraced and promoted this lifestyle, Hymowitz suggests that it is ultimately an unsatisfying way of life. She writes, "Not so long ago, the average mid-twentysomething had achieved most of adulthood's milestones--high school degree, financial independence, marriage, and children. These days, he lingers--happily--in a new hybrid state of semi-hormonal adolescence and responsible self-reliance. Decades in unfolding, this limbo may not seem like news to many, but in fact it is to the early twenty-first century what adolescence was to the early twentieth: a momentous sociological development of profound economic and cultural import. Some call this new period "emerging adulthood," others "extended adolescence"; David Brooks recently took a stab with the "Odyssey Years," a "decade of wandering."

"But while we grapple with the name, it's time to state what is now obvious to legions of frustrated young women: the limbo doesn't bring out the best in young men."

How the "New Feminism" Went Wrong ~ By Charlotte Raven, The Guardian