Lynn Porter

Men are wild creatures, designed by evolution to hunt, and are no more suited to domestication than a cougar. Women need domesticity to raise their children, which depends on getting men to fall in line. Women really, really want men to do what they want us to do, and will argue with us if we don’t. Women’s reproductive success depends on getting men to do things we don’t want to do.

Men don’t like women arguing with them. It’s an irritating waste of our energy, since we’re going to do whatever we can get away with, regardless. Women have the thankless job of persuading us that we can’t get away with it. Frankly, this only works if we’re getting something from the woman that makes it worth it.

Men are not suited to civilization and spend our lives, consciously or unconsciously, pining for the wild. It’s true that we live longer domesticated, but would you like to live in a zoo? We hate spending most of our lives doing what other people tell us to do. I think this is the source of much of the irreconcilable conflict between men and women: we have different needs. Men need adventure; women need routine.

I suggest to women, if they want to get along with us, to not argue with us unless it’s really important to their personal welfare, or that of their children. Often I think they argue simply to prove that they’re still in control, not the man. It seems to be the principle of the thing.