Oh boy have you opened up a can of worms here.
I cannot agree with the article more.
I live in Japan, and all I get from women here is surprise that I should think that they may have an opinion, or even an interest different to my own. The flipside is that many are too submissive and just do not want to express it for fearing of offending, but those that do find my (western) attitude a complete breath of fresh air. In short I find them less self-centred, and do not need the same levels of emotional maintenance that supposedly self-confident women I know back in the UK.
Then there is the supply/demand element. Japanese men do their own thing, socialising around work in 'men-only' environments. This actually leaves a significant number of single females short of local single men. A friend who visited me commented that he had never seen so many women, waiting to be talked to when I took him to a local bar for a drink.
In short when I return to the UK, I always tell my girlfriends (just simple friends) there to be grateful for what they have got. It may not be ideal (thx a lot to all those fairy tales), but boy it could be a lot worse. On the global market - a lot of them get a good deal.
It is quite hard on Western women here, as firstly it is not a women-first society, and a lot of them find it hard to get, or keep, boyfriends as they are trading against the trend for the first time in their lives.
It just goes to show you how much we are products of our societies, and how our attitudes are derived from how we are brought up.
-macavity
please oh please now close the can! |
