Let’s all be grateful that every one of us is different and has different wants and needs. Otherwise, we’d all be chasing the same people, and most of us wouldn’t have a chance to mate.
Personally, I would never marry a man who wasn’t my best friend. I can work on cars and my husband can cook — he’s the shopper, not me. I’ve never watched a soap opera in my life. It’s friendship and a good sense of humor that carries most marriages through the hard times; that, and an understanding that marriage is about duty, obligation and committment more than it is about dating and good times. Marriage and a cohesive family is society’s oldest and best “social safety net.”
Also, we should understand that a woman’s greatest assets (where men are concerned) are youth, beauty and an ability to procreate — no matter how much we try to deny it. A man’s greatest assets (where women are concerned) are his power/social status and income-earning capacity — no matter how much we try to deny that.
A woman’s contribution is front-loaded, while a man’s contribution tends to be back-loaded (their ability to earn more money and have more power/social status tend to occur later in life).
Women have an implicit understanding (even if most men disagree) that women offer up their greatest assets in exchange for a man’s greatest assets.
Of course, if a couple decides to remain childless, I have no problem with the “no alimony or obligation” stance, as her income-earning capacity would not be hindered by marriage and children.
Don’t forget, when a woman (or man) chooses to stay home to WORK (it’s not free rent), it is usually a mutual decision. If you think it’s “not work,” you have never done it. I’ve done both (work inside and outside the home) and can say for a fact that working in the home is much more demanding and exhausting than working at an outside job.
