I had a thirty minute talk yesterday with my sister about the fragility of the male ego. Now, to be fair, friends need some stroking, that’s part of the deal as a friend. I praise your accomplishments and you praise mine. Similarly I support you in your problems as you do with mine.
But men require constant stroking. Careful handling by the women around them. Depending on there nature they can just get mad when you don’t praise them or in more extreme cases verbally and physically abusive. Women are expected to praise their man, deserved or not.
Of course some men are much more self contained then this and some are much more needy of constant stroking. The women by contrast are simply expected to do what they do without commentary. A supporting guy is kind of icing on the cake.
Then there are issues around the guy being so wrapped up in his own stuff that he doesn’t recognized that the discussion isn’t actually about him, that she would like a chance to talk about something different. I unfortunately went through this with a dear friend who was wrapped up in his efforts that he could only see the world in terms of his efforts, not mine. For you see, we all need stroking sometimes.
So, I lay my grievance aside and walked away from the fight about nothing at all.
My Gifted Life 