To all those who want to raise a young man who will never know the lovely presence of a woman romantically interested in him: raise him in a house full of women. Or simply teach him to respect woman and believe they are equal. He will grow to eventually attempt to court a young lady and be rejected because he idolizes her and treats her like the beautiful being he sees her as, but she will disagree. She will not acquiesce, not even after a large portion of time is spent on her by the young male. She will prefer the wanton and disinterested aura of a typical, generic, vapid male, commonly referred to as a bad guy. He will not seek to prove to her that he loves her or even cares for her, simply that he’s, at times, delighted to be in her presence. She will be replaceable to him, but she won’t acknowledge this; she will build a He in her heart and mind, and that will be the basis of her delusion. Meanwhile, the nice young male who at least envisioned an immediate future with the young lady will grow disillusioned against his will; he will grow misogynistic. And he will war with himself forever more because if chivalry isn’t dead, it is profusely unrewarded. And this will be life, and the world will turn in its longing for excitement and pleasure, not equality and mutual distribution of responsibility and care. And everything will be fine somewhere else, where the nice young male - heart full of enshrined females he has so fully attached to that he now wonders if he has any love left to attach and offer to someone new - isn’t; where the disparity of love as an obligation disproportionately exists in less than halves opposing the greater portion (the side burdened by an actual desire to love - but loves the wrong person). And it will go on forever because equality takes effort and effort diminishes beauty upon first notice.

18thex-perpetual replied to your quote: To all those who want to raise a young man who…

its just as marginalizing to be idealized as it is to be demeaned. personally i would hate either form of relationship.

The moderate form of a relationship I favor and believe is most nourishing is one that maintains idolatry and realism without too much of either. Too much realism leaves an individual just looking at the fleshy, progressively sagging body of their partner and has only reason to love it if it becomes beautiful. I suppose idolatry may be the wrong word, but no love exists without an enriched fascination. Those that don’t love life become nihilists. Those that don’t love and see the captivating beauty of a human body become promiscuous, unattached romantic-wayfarers. Thats how I see it. Perhaps it is preemptive idolatry that is the root of a dissuasion such as the one you’d feel. I can’t quite say. I just know that I’ve tried desperately to express both desperation as well as patience and neither has paid off. At some point, a man isn’t so willing to conclude its just his luck, but instead perhaps no one out there that wants to be admired and loved.

Slightly funny and sad how parts of that presuppose all love is meant only for long term purposes/marriage. Jesus, I’ve got to get my mind off the future.