Katie and I were watching the news the other day and they had a special about successful women in the workplace and how difficult their personal lives are as a result of their professional ones. It was so bad, in fact, that one of the five or six women that were part of this panel interview had actually started a Web site dedicated to successful women attempting to find meaningful relationships.
This floored me. I know that there are many men who are threatened by successful women. They look at it as though their manhood is being trampled.
But I had assumed that the tide had been changing for a while now so that, ideally, maybe it would be a 50/50 split between those guys who are threatened and those who are not. From the sound of things, though, it doesn't seem as though this is the truth. It sounded as though none of the women interviewed had been able to find men who could deal with what these women represented.
Now, clearly, five or six women is not a truly representative sample of the full population of women in the workplace. In fact, it's likely that the panel members were screened ahead of time to get a sampling that was skewed in favor of the viewpoint that the news channel was hoping to present.
But, even so, you have to figure that there is still some truth to it all. And I find this sad. I find it sad that men can't handle the concept of a woman having greater success than them.
Why is it such a sin for a woman to make more money?
Katie and I decided a long time ago that, when we have kids, the one of us that is making the least money with the fewest benefits or who has the greater chance at being able to work from home would stay at home. We're both fine with this decision even now. We talked about it after the news report and we're still find with this choice.
Have any of you made this same decision? How has it worked out? Or have you been in situations similar to these women? This can be answered by the men reading this post, too. Let me know how you would feel if you were in this position.
BTW, got a meme for you in the extended post...
This meme comes from Stepping Over the Junk and, so far as I can tell, is completely untitled.
Enjoy!
1. What were you afraid of as a child?
Mostly the same things I'm afraid of now... spiders, falling, dying a horrible and painful death, clowns, ventriloquist dummies, and dolls made to look like real girls. Gah!!!
2. When have you been most courageous?
I feel one of the most courageous things I did was allow Katie into my life. Not that it was a big deal and not that Katie was a risky choice, per se, but I had been burned by my previous several relationships so I wasn't really sure a long-term one was the right thing to do. Glad I defied the naysaying portion of my brain.
3. What sound most disturbs you?
Crying children followed by screaming parents followed by some sound of physical violence. It's not that crying children by themselves bug me, nor screaming humans, nor sounds of physical violence. But, in combination, they never equal a good situation.
4. What is the greatest amount of physical pain you’ve been in?
Being kicked in the nads. Yep. That's never fun. And it has happened.
5. What’s your biggest fear for your children? (or children in general if you don’t have some of your own.)
Having to bury them. I know it's cliche to say this, but no parent should have to bury their children. I don't have any yet, but I can't and don't want to imagine what this would be like.
6. What is the hardest physical challenge you’ve achieved?
Bungee jumping. It required temporarily overcoming my fear of falling and dying in a painful manner.
7. Which do you prefer: Mountains or oceans/big water?
Do I have to choose? Fine. Mountains. They're just so utterly majestic and usually surrounded by so much other natural beauty.
8. What is the one thing you do for yourself that helps you keep everything together?
For the longest time it was blogging. And it still is, just not as much as before. For the last week, I've discovered that working out in the morning really helps clear my head and keeps me more alert and awake than I am when I don't. I know that seems like an awful strong declaration after only a week, but I'm pretty certain it's the real thing. I just have to keep it up.
9. Ever had a close relative or friend with cancer?
Katie's uncle died of colon cancer a few years ago and both her dad and an aunt fought against and overcame the same thing. Other than them, I don't think there was anyone else close to me with cancer.
10. What are the things your friends count on you for?
I have no idea. Hopefully not too much as that would be far more pressure than I really want on me at any one time.
11. What is the best part of being in a committed relationship?
Again with the cliche'd stuff, but everything. Even the bad things.
12. What is the hardest part of being in a committed relationship?
Realizing that your life is no longer just your own. You share in everything with another person and that can be tough for some people to accept. This isn't necessarily a difficult thing for me, just a hard part of committed relationships in general.
13. Summer or Winter? Why?
Winter. Much more beautiful. But it gets old pretty quick. Summer just gets too damn hot. Honestly I pick the fall over all of them.
14. Have you ever been in a school-yard fight? Why and what happened?
Many, many times. Far too many to count. Instead of retyping, I'll just link.
15. Why blog?
It's cathartic. I can get my feelings and emotions (for the most part) out in the open and it's like a spring cleaning of my mind. And I get input from all of you which helps me put things in perspective often times.
16. Did you learn about sex, and/or sex safety from your parents?
I really don't remember. I'm sure they talked about it with me at some point, but I don't recall how it went. I really think the majority of what I learned, I learned on my own.
17. How do you plan to talk to your kids about sex and/or sex safety?
Can I worry about this later?
18. What are you most thankful for this year?
Many things I can't really discuss here in the public domain. But of the things I can discuss, I'm really thankful Katie is still in love with me (or she's just a damn fine actress) and that she got into grad school so she can finally "chase the dream."
