What Women Really Want?

This post has nothing to do with anything, really. I just find the phenomenon amusing. Without getting too stereotyped, many men I know shop in a significantly different way than the women in their lives. Much of this is culturally conditioned for middle-income Americans, I know. Many men are like I am. "Shopping" consists of knowing what you want to get, going to the store that has the item, finding the item, paying for it, and going home. That's a successful shopping outing. Many women are like my wife. Shopping is a prolonged experience. It involves moving purposefully and slowly through a multitude of stores. Testing, comparing, trying on items, going back to stores to re-look; these are all integral to the shopping event. Elaine, my wife, can "shop" by this latter definition for an entire day, come home having purchased absolutely nothing, yet be happy as a clam for the experience.

Many women are particularly fond of taking the men in their lives with them on a shopping outing. I'm not sure why, but it's important to them. I guess it's a way that we can show we are interested in the things that interest them. Looking over stores and malls over the years, I've rarely known this effort to be successful, at least judging from the men I see in the shopping centers. You've seen them; the guys sitting on the benches looking forlorn and fatigued, holding a bunch of bags, wishing for all the world she'd just run out of steam and he could go home and watch baseball like he wanted to today. Again, I'm not sure why women want us to go with them on these hunt and gather excursions. Some women say it's because they want our opinions on items they they consider, particularly with clothing. I guess that's true in my case, in a reverse sort of a way. Whatever outfit I suggest my wife should buy, she eliminates that and looks at something else. (I really thought the sheer number with the plunging neckline would look good on her!)

Then came the creation of mobile Internet. With an iPhone a man can go shopping with his wife, and still satisfy what he wants. Instead of drifting to the video electronics section at J.C. Penney, he can now carry the game with him in the palm of his hand, check e-mail, and text his buddies, all the while being right at his lady-love's side. Perfect scenario, right? No, I'm told. According to many who claim to know, and according to the disgruntled looks I see on woman's faces while their men poke the keyboard right along side her in stores, it's not just that she wants you physically with her on the shopping trip. She wants you attentive to her, as well. That's the point and apparently has been the point all along.

And that's just the guys' side. Probably a whole different spin from the gals. Human beings...frustrating and exciting, mysterious and wonderful, never done with surprising new things to learn. Maybe that's how God wants it. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.