Men are always fascinated with the question of what women want in order to get a strategic advantage, and women are also fascinated to see what other women want in order to compare themselves. But really, can we ever be definitive in our response to this timeless question? Not really, every woman will have her unique take on what she wants, and men will not gain all that much advantage reading any single woman's list of wants, because he is trying to understand one specific woman. So is it a lost cause to even try? Not at all, any attempt is worth the effort, and that's just where we are going now.
We could commence with what appear to be biological imperatives to get some insight into what might be a few universals. Clearly women and men have different biological roles to contribute to the survival of the species. Women provide half the genes and are the ones that pop out the babies and are designed to provide their early nutrition. Men provide half the genes. Men are also genetically larger and stronger and appear to be designed for protection and longer range hunting to provide safety and bulkier food for the vulnerable woman and child.
So at its most basic, when women are in their time of childbearing and are popping out offspring, they need men to protect and provide for them. The needs are simple, safety, security and food. These needs also presuppose that the male has some level of loyalty to the vulnerable woman and child as well so that he actually works to keep protecting them and actually brings home the, um, bacon, as it were.
These really fundamental role variations are driven by biology and don't seem to be any different today. Women who are vulnerable during their childbearing years still need someone to provide safety, security and sustenance. However, many millennia of society have intervened to create evolving contemporary scenarios that have differed widely over time and around the world. Today we can see almost every conceivable variation on how women and men organise themselves to live and survive and thrive.
The needs for safety, security and sustenance are necessarily going to look quite different in a western urban setting with people living in a high rise apartment with a hospital nearby and a supermarket in the basement. Compare this setting to people living in a mud hut in a semiarid region with long term drought, no medical care and a reliance on self-sufficiency. Both exist in the same historical time. So what do women want? It will really be dependent on context.
Women still want a man who is loyal enough to come back to them so that they continue to be there for safety and security. They want a man who can contribute to the sustenance of the family unit, in whatever way contemporary conditions permit. They want someone reliable so that they can be trusted to be around, not cause mischief and not bring home diseases from their various dalliances. They should also be tolerable enough to enable a harmonious time together. In addition, a swag of good genes would be desirable so that they give the resultant offspring the best chance of surviving and thriving. Finally, these days, and maybe even always, a man is more desirable if they are a sensitive lover, whatever that means in the context of the day. But really, no one wants seconds from a man that does a bad job.
Your thoughts?
