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All men are stupid. All women are crazy.
Men protect themselves with a veneer of toughness. Women protect themselves with a veneer of emotion.
Men like to be dirty. Women like to clean them up.
Remember that men and women are fundamentally different. Though they do have two things in common: both are carbon-based forms of life, and they are together capable of producing fertile offspring. Outside of that, you'll have to talk to the experts.
The Magnifico Giuliano at once replied: 'The poor creatures do not wish to become men in order to make themselves more perfect, but to gain their freedom and shake off the tyranny that men have imposed on them by their one-sided authority. Besides, the analogy you give of matter and form is not always applicable; for woman is not perfected by man in the way that matter is perfected by form. . . . On the other hand, woman does not receive her being from man but rather perfects him just as she is perfected by him, and thus both join together for the purpose of procreation which neither can ensure alone.'
-- The Courtier, Book Three
Women do not wish they were men. Women only wish that men would not treat them badly. Women notice that men do not often treat men as they often treat women. If you even occasionally treated men the way you customarily treat women, you would get the shit kicked out of you. The reason women do not do this is because they can't, not because they don't want to once in a while.
Women do not have penis envy except when you pull the car over the side of the road to take a leak. If anybody has penis envy, it's men. Think about how men obsess about penis size, how they're constantly making jokes and talking about penises and so on and so forth.
I can't say for sure, but basically women don't spend anywhere near as much time thinking about, talking about, looking at pictures of penises as men do of, say, breasts. Women may very well have figure envy--envy of other women's figures, not men's--but that has not much to do with penises now, does it.
And, although this is not perhaps the right time to go into subtleties, my answer, based both on a reliable authority and on the simple truth, is that the substance of anything whatsoever cannot receive of itself either more or less; thus just as one stone cannot, as far as its essence is concerned, be more perfectly stone than another stone, nor one piece of wood more perfectly wood than another piece, so one man cannot be more perfectly man than another; and so, as far as their formal substance is concerned, the male cannot be more perfect than the female, since both the one and the other are included under the species man, and they differ in their accidents and not in their essence.
You may then say that man is more perfect than woman if not as regards essence then at least as regards accidents; and to this I reply that these accidents must be the properties either of the body or of the mind. Now if you mean the body, because man is more robust, more quick and agile, and more able to endure toil, I say that this is an argument of very little validity since among men themselves those who possess these qualities more than others are not more highly regarded on that account; and even in warfare, when for the most part the work to be done demands exertion and strength, the strongest are not the most highly esteemed. If you mean the mind, I say that everything that men can understand, women can too; and where a man's intellect can penetrate, so along with it can a woman's.
-- The Courtier, Book Three
Men evolved bodily strength to protect themselves and their loved ones from other men. Women evolved brains to protect themselves from the men they love. So far, it's a standoff. That old story about God creating Eve out of one of Adam's ribs? It's baloney. If you ever count your ribs, you'll see that you have the same number as a woman. What really happened is this: God put Adam to sleep and extracted part of his brain and made a woman out of it. That's what really happened.
Men and women within a given culture are different sizes. Men tend to be bigger and stronger, women tend to be smaller and more delicate. This sexual dimorphism is an evolutionary survival trait, and has nothing whatever to do with cave men dragging women around by the hair or Man the Mighty Hunter. If there is a potential shortage of resources--the normal human condition--there are advantages and disadvantages to being larger or smaller.
Largeness tends to favor the individual, whereas smallness tends to favor the group. If there are limited resources, and the individual is large, a few stronger individuals will tend to command the resources. Largeness also makes more efficient use of limited resources, because, pound for pound, a larger organism uses fewer resources than a smaller one.
So, it becomes obvious: you don't need very many men to impregnate a comparatively large number of women, but you do need as large a pool of women as possible to ensure the survival of the group. So, you get big men and not many of them, and small women in plenty. Human sexual dimorphism optimizes limited resources in times of shortage.
Women secretly believe that men are incredibly stupid. They're right.
For men demonstrate their courage far more often in little things than in great. Very often in the face of appalling danger but where there are numerous witnesses one will find those who, though ready to drop dead with fear, driven on by shame or the presence of others, will press forward, with their eyes closed, and do their duty; and only God knows how. But in things of trifling importance, when they believe they can avoid danger without its being noticed, they are only too willing to play for safety. As for those who, even when they are sure they are not being observed or seen or recognized by anyone, are full of ardor and avoid doing anything, no matter how trivial, for which they would incur reproach, they posses the temper and quality we are looking for in our courtier.
--The Courtier, Book One
Women are physically afraid of men. Do not exploit this. Be physically gentle. Make your strength a buttress and shield, not a weapon.
Women despise a coward.
All the same, we do not wish the courtier to make a show of being so fierce that he is always blustering and bragging . . . the man we are seeking should be fierce, rough and always to the fore, in the presence of the enemy; but anywhere else he should be kind, modest, reticent and anxious above all to avoid ostentation or the kind of outrageous self-glorification by which a man always arouses loathing and disgust among those who have to listen to him. --
The Courtier, Book One
Women dislike a swaggering bully.
Women find aggressive machismo silly.
Men are afraid of women's wiles. Cleverness is a woman's weapon of self-preservation. Be aware of this. Do not resent it when she tries to outfox you.
'I am quite surprised,' said signor Gaspare with a laugh, 'that since you endow women with letters, continence, magnanimity and temperance, you do not want them to govern cities as well, and to make laws and lead armies, while the men stay at home to cook and spin.'
The Magnifico replied, also laughing, 'Perhaps that would not be so bad, either.' Then he added: 'Do you not know that Plato, who was certainly no great friend of women, put them in charge of the city and gave all the military duties to men? Don't you think that we might find as many women just as capable of governing cities and leading armies as men?'
-- The Courtier, Book Three
Do not be arrogant about knowledge or skills you may have and she doesn't. You weren't born with them. If she wanted to, she could probably do just about anything better than you. One of the main reasons that women stay away from men's activities is that they don't want to show us up.
Another big reason is that they find many of our most consuming interests incredibly boring. This is probably what saves us from a condition of permanent humiliation. If you know something she doesn't know, share it with her. Be a teacher, not a miser.
And then as regards things about which he knows he is totally ignorant, I should wish our courtier to keep completely silent and not to seek to acquire a reputation for understanding them; rather, he ought to confess his ignorance.
-- The Courtier, Book Two
Do not pretend to knowledge which you do not have. It is better to confess ignorance and accept instruction than to be caught out and made to appear a fool. Ignorance is no crime, but foolishness is.
And if you chance to be entreated of the company to speak your mind, I would have you do it gently, without showing yourself greedy to carry away the prize. But you must leave to every man his part, and be it right or wrong, consent to the majority, or to the most importunate. To offer advice unrequested, what is it else but to vaunt yourself wiser than he is, whom you do council. Nay, rather it is a plain check on him for his ignorance and folly. And therefore, you must not do so with all our acquaintances generally, but . . . only when a man stands in danger and peril, no matter how much a stranger he may be. But in our common acquaintance and conversation, let us not busy ourselves and meddle too much with other men's doings.
Il Galateo
Do not take things over, thinking that you can do better. Let her do her work as she sees fit, and if she asks for help, render it only to the degree that you have been requested.
Do not nag.
Making her smaller does not make you bigger. It only makes you smaller.
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