Mixing Movies

As my friends and I have gotten older and gone through our changes and hardships and good times, there are a few things that stay the same. We're always here for one another, we're always good for a joke and we're always complaining about men. Only some of us have financial woes, only some of us have a hard time at school, only some of us have crappy roommates or terrible jobs, but all of us have man problems. I was thinking today, as I saw yet another relationship circle the drain, that there has to be some cause, some reason and maybe some solution, and I came up with something. I think the primary problem is expectations and the difference in expectations that men and women have. Aside from the fact that women of my generation have TERRIBLE Disney complexes, I really think we're also struggling with a different set of thoughts and perceptions. We grew up in a world of empowered and independent women, and witnessed a lot of our mothers making on their own in a man's world, (see Trisha Yearwood's
'Ribbons and Bows', perfect example) but at the same time, grew up in communities and environments that regarded this independence as a last ditch effort: something you do when your husband leaves you. We all want white horses and prince charming, but we want it on our terms- we don't need to be rescued, we've got it figured out, but at the same time, we act like that's precisely what we want. As a generation of women, we want to act like a grown-up, proactive, independent and yet be treated like something out of ‘Leave it to Beaver.’ We want men to chase us and send us flowers and buy us jewelry and take us out and take care of us, but we want to hit on them first and pursue them first. It all looks to me like trying to mix movies from different decades.
I think we have to shift our expectations. I think we need to expect that if the decision is made to be primarily ambitious, I don't think we can expect to be treated like Cinderella in her glass slipper phase. I think if we want to be a part of a "man's world", we have to acknowledge that it might be not only intimidating, but also a cue that we don't need things women traditionally "need" (if you're the one killing all the spiders, he might start to wonder why he's even there, metaphorically). By the same token, I think if what you really want is the glass slipper, there's a path to that too.
I won't say that either way is wrong or that there isn't a middle ground, I simply believe that there are decisions to be made and paths to be chosen in order to get precisely what you want.

As for me, I'm just hoping I'm smart enough to listen when God is talking to me.