It really isn't that men used to understand women any better than they do now. It's just that before the 1960s, gender roles were fairly well defined. But, there were a lot of pissed off people in general, and for good reasons. A general social upheaval evolved due to major changes in peoples' levels of security.
Well, people generally decided this was a good time to air their grievances about pretty much everything. Womens' Liberation was one of the major movements. Granted, this was greatly needed. But, the movement was taken over by lesbians and it became a movement for lesbian rights instead of womens' rights. Yes, I know, this isn't politically correct. That's because Political Correctness is basically manipulating words to make something bad seem better. Lesbians really did take the lead in the movement. Women still make 70 cents to every dollar men make for the same work. If the movement had really been about womens' rights, it seems like that would have been a pretty good place to start.
So, what was the movement about? It was about androgeny. For the past fifty years we've been actively trying to make gender roles the same. Somebody confused equal rights with sameness in behavior. So, now everybody is confused. Most women would like to have the door opened for them. Most women liked being up on a pedestal. All they really wanted was to not feel helpless and taken advantage of. Instead, everybody got the worst of everything. They tried to force little girls in the Boy Scouts. They tried to wussify little boys...which, in large part, has worked.
Basically, women are a lot tougher than men. But it really hasn't done anyone any good to shove it in our faces. I'd like to see a man give birth or walk around in 5 inch heels all day. (Yes, I know some men do wear heels and others who want to be pregnant...but let's not go there) The fact that women are smarter and tougher than men is supposed to be a secret. But, instead, we now share everything and the sound of mens' egos being shattered is deafening. Women used to act helpless and tell their men how brilliant they were. This is not really the case any more and everyone is confused. Men are capable of a lot, but they need the encouragement of women.
Women have been taught that building up a guy's ego is demeaning. As a result, I watch with horror as young women totally emasculate young men and neither realize what is happening. I imagine when you started reading this you thought you were going to get some secret about magic words to say or things you can do that would put women in the palm of your hand. Nope.
The situation we are in is here to stay and you just have to learn how to deal with it. You need to understand how women think and learn to appreciate them for who they are. But, you know what? This isn't really bad news. Appreciating women for who and what they really are and letting them know that you do actually can lead to a much more rewarding relationship than what used to come out of the games people played. If you are one of those guys who is physically attracted to women, but doesn't really like them as friends, you're going to have a very hard time of it. Your one saving grace is that there are women out there who look at men the same way, so you can find them and have your superficial, constantly miserable relationships.
