Do you know about this controversial Forbes article: “Don’t Marry Career Women” written by journalist Michael Noer?
Women are all up in arms about it, but to me, it’s complete nonsense. Isn’t it obvious to most men? — the more money your wife makes, the better!
It’s simple. If she’s bringing in the big bucks, the less she is on your back about sitting at home in your underwear (or her underwear) and blogging! Let her work all day and make tons of money.
Of course, some men say they feel uncomfortable with a woman who is more “intelligent” or “high-powered” than they are. My response is, “What are you, a pussy? Marry the smartest woman you can! Beauty fades, but you always need someone to edit you blog posts.”
“Oh, sure,” I hear some men grumbling. “And what about the statistics that show high-powered career women are more likely to have affairs at work?”
I say, “Terrific!” More time for blogging at home. Who wants to put on fancy clothes and go out to some overpriced restaurant when some poor sucker in her office can do it for you? I’ll be catching up on All My Children. As long as I get to play with her tits every once in a while in between writing blog posts, I’m a happy man.
“But aren’t you afraid of your wife leaving you for her new lover?”
“Yeah, let’s see HIM stand around the Nordstrom women’s department for an hour holding her purse while she tries on a Tahari Pinstripe Skirt Suit. She’ll be back.”
Let’s praise the career woman!
A Year Ago On Citizen of the Month: Granny, Won’t You Drive My Car?
My wife is a doctor, a serious career woman. I love it, she’s gone on call at least once a week leaving me plenty of time to do a little blogging or do guy stuff or whatever. It works out great. I too recommend the career woman. It’s like taking a day off of work occasionally.
I read this article and some comments made about it by some feminist bloggers, and I discussed it (and the counterpoint: “Don’t Marry A Lazy Man,” by Elizabeth Corcoran) with a friend, who is a sociologist, a couple of days ago.
The emphasis that Michael Noer puts on the concept of marriage as “an exercise in labor specialization” in which men do “market” or paid work outside the home and women do “non-market” or household work – and that marriages in which this “labor specialization” is subverted break down more easily – is beyond troublesome.
But this labor specialization can be reversed, the guy can stay home to cook, clean, and take care of the kids (which will leave him hardly enough time to blog in his or her underwear.) Then, he will be stuck in the marriage, because he will have no other means to support himself but his wife’s income.
Of course, it’s all way more complicated than this (there were, I think, flaws in Noer’s piece, as well as in Corcoran’s counterpoint.)
And Neil, thanks for reminding the world that professional women still have tits that need occasional fondling.
Neil, I love you man. Sheesh, that article sure got under my skin! BAH!
You pretty much made my day.
hugs,
”Beauty fades, but YOU always need someone to edit you blog posts”
uh ….should that be: edit YOUR blog posts
the NY times has been doing a series of articles on sundays simlar to this – basically it stated that men w/o higher education degrees tend to stay single in proportion to the women w/ higher ed degrees….. i admit it attributes much of this to the eudcated women “settling” down later in life, but it also looked at how the mens financial situation played a serious role too
the men wanted to play vs the women pushing to higher placement
the men living pay check to pay check vs the women having disposable incomes
etc etc etc
I am totally blaming the death of my blog on my sudden need to become a career woman.
So barefoot and pregnant is a thing of the past huh? I did notice from the picture you chose that the career woman has to be hot. I suppose we can only hope for so much.:(
Hey check out my latest post- I’d like to recruit you- if you’re interested.
The author obviously is in desperate need of a homemaker woman who will doctor every wound his poor soul will create. Granted, in the unlikely episode that I end up dating a career woman (note I didn’t say marry; marriage is a crippling contract that favors the female), I would probably prefer it over a rose-garden pruning housewife. One could see it as “Your whole relationship ends up becoming a business discussion; the quantity and opportunity costs of dates, accounts being used for nights out, etc.” which I can understand could be a little frustrating but thankfully in this matter if the business deal doesn’t seem to function, it can always be dropped. 😉
Surely an intelligent man would understand that it is significantly cheaper to hire a maid. My name is not Hazel and I am not here to wash your skid marked underwear and cook you dinner.
And just so it’s on the record, any man that gets neurotic and insecure about a woman that makes more money than him is no measure of a man in my book. You’re still the one with the penis, sweety, don’t worry, we won’t be taking that away from you too.
Sigh. This old chestnut is being dragged about again? I thought we had knocked it around enough in the 80s. Makes me tired. My advice for these little whiners who can’t quite handle a real woman with a brain and ambition, no matter if her arena for both is home or the outside workplace: SHUT UP AND GET OUT.
Can you tell I’m back at work?
neil, you’re such a feminist.
😉 sizz
Neil, your problem is, you’re simply too evolved. You have managed somehow to quash the Neanthethal part of the male brain that cannot cope with the female partner earning more. Some day all men will be this enlightened.
I so want to Marry a Career Woman!
Word to everything Elisabeth said with one change: substitute “frequent” for “occasional” in her closing remark.
So should I click on over to the Forbes article and see what everyone is talking about OR laugh my ass off over Neil’s response?
Neil wins–hands down. Ya gotta love a man who wears the (under)pants in the family and spends quality time with the computer AND the remote. Neil’s bring SexyBack.
never heard of the article. i think it takes a special kind of man to marry a career woman, one that is confident enough to sit around at home all day in her underwear. it says just as much about the man as the woman.
(don’t forget to take your medication today!)
Neil – first of all I can’t believe I was out of pocket for Blogger Appreciation Day! I SOOO appreciate you!
Second of all – thanks for posting this article. It was bothersome enough to get me writing. I posted my full comment on my blog.
http://juleslife1398.blogspot.com/2006/08/calamatiy-of-marrying-career-woman.html
What happened to your dream of having a woman meet you at the door in lingere every night when you came home from work?
Sigh. I went to Victoria’s Secret and EVERYTHING!
Amen, my brother!
Mrs. Fab is smarter than me, better educated, and makes more money. And has more common sense.
I couldn’t be happier.
I totally see your POV, Neil. Alas, I was that career woman and, well? It wasn’t what I dreamed it would be. Fortunately, I married a guy who is smart, too, so now both of us work half as hard and edit each others’ stuff. So far, so good!
You did get me thinking, though. I do wonder if he’s sitting around in my underwear when I do have the occasional meeting. Maybe time to put in a teddycam…
It seems a bit insecure to assume that just because your partner works, (either male or female) that they are going to have an affair with someone at the office.
To me the career thing is more about temperment than about gender. Some people love the outside career world, and others like to stay home in their wive’s panties and blog all day. Now I just need to find a career person so I can wear their underwear and obsess over the internet at home where I belong.
I’ve BEEN the career woman… it’s fine… except *everyone* should have time to blog in the underwear of their choosing.
My husband is waiting for the day when my book comes out and he thinks he no longer has to work. He wants me to be really successful so he can retire early.
Does dating/marrying a career woman mean I don’t always have to pay for dinner? Because if that is the case, then sign me up.
That’s why we’d never work out Neil. You like blogging in women’s panties and so do I. Sure we’d have common interests but eventually, we’d need money. For more panties.
A suberb post! I’m sure you won the heart of every female blogger with this post.
Elisabeth hit it on the head. I haven’t read the counterpoint but Corcoran’s title sums up my first thought. The divorce rate is higher because career women have financial independence and don’t have to put up with a lazy husband or a bunch of s**t.
Maybe these successful women are cheating because their husbands are a bunch of insensitive crybabies who are too insecure about themselves to realize how good they’ve got it. Don’t go by me though, I’m still single. And just a tad bitter.
Women who stay at home never have affairs, yea right…..
Career women are more likely to have affairs? hmmmm, maybe I need to go back to work…
Jeff — how true. Finally a good reason to apply for a new job!  Who needs Match.com?
I have no problem not working again if some dumbass wants to support me in the style that I would like to become accustomed to someday. In fact, that sounds great. Then I can divorce him, take him for everything, and call him at work everyday to remind him that he didn’t want to marry a career woman and mama needs a new pair of shoes.
women who stay at home from 9-3pm while their kids are at primary school don’t have affairs?
Great post Neil, how did you feel when you woke up wearing the pants, so to speak!!!
Neil, you are a true pioneer. Don’t ever change, mate.
love this post, Neil. I’m not a skirt person, but that pinstripe suit is pretty hot. If you lived closer, I’d drag you shopping… I’m sure I could borrow a purse for you to hold. 😉
Great post! A guy with your attitude can play with my tits anytime (within the bonds of matrimony that is). 😉
The Michael Noer article is complete stupidity. It’s all on the woman with no mention of what the man’s role is in a dual career relationship. Clearly, for him it’s the same as it’s always been and it’s the woman wearing many hats. What he forgot to realize is if it’s a dual career home, they can hire maids, nannies and the like to cover certain tasks. For those who’ve not read it, here they are side by side:
Thanks for a funny take on what was a stupid topic in the first place.
Neil, you are a very funny man! I am new to reading your posts and to blogging too! I actually put a link on my site because you have such a great spin on life. Please stop by sometime. I am curious – how is it that you fit in women’s undies????
This article provided good laughter more than anything else; I sent it to a few of my girlfriends and we all agreed that despite his protestations, he better marry a career woman because who ever marries him will divorce him and he will need the alimony…
I can’t even possibly come up with a good retort about the actual article because I’m too lazy to have actually read it. But I will say that “What are you, A PUSSY?!” is one of my favorite insults / general-sayings. I also have a strong preference for the euphemism “doing It” when referring to sex. (Used in proper context, it would be… “Where’s Neil?” “Oh, he’s with Becky. They’re probably doing It.”)
I encourage you to use “Doing It” as much as possible in your everyday ramblings. Especially if said with a lot of emphasis and a slightly hick accent, it can be severely hilarious.
I want a girl who gets up early
I want a girl who stays up late
I want a girl with uninterrupted prosperity
Who uses a machete, to cut through red tape
With fingernails that shine like justice
And a voice that is dark like tinted glass
She is fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack
She’s touring the facilities and picking up slack
I want a girl with a short skirt and a long, long jacket
Hey! Caryn was your blog crush of the day. The hand waving video deserves an Emmy!
“Does my butt look big in this”?
That misogynist, ridiculous and irritating-as-all-HELL Forbes article made me want to throw things. At him.
Where does that writer live, anyway 😉
Neil, I totally missed out on all the fun over Blog Appreciation Day – darn it! Will you forgive me since I’m a career woman (I am in a suit in my blog photo)??
I figure I can only chalk it up as a cultural dif. The article of the brouhaha seems innocuously straightforward. If people are focused on one thing, they will overlook other aspects of life. And?
What you said reminds me of what a senior couple, lifelong actors each said. The husband is a skirt chaser and women seem to be giving the wife the eye saying, leash him. She shrugged magnanimously saying pah, he’ll be back. No one can stand him for long like I can. (They had been married over 50 years at this point).
A Career woman is a must. Obviously in this society it is beneficial to not only have a career but also passionate interest…and hey why not make money doing it 🙂
When i was in my teens i saw the career woman as a curiosity, then having a few career women for managers i liked how they cared about their employees as compared to male managers who only cared about proffits. Now i am unhappy in my work, i have gone as far as i can working with my dyslexia and look forward to my princess riding in on a white horse and rescuing me.
Great article. I just married a wonderful woman doctor. Trust me, I get plenty of looks in my “Real Men Marry Doctors” shirt. =)
iam adoctor in india and want to marry a white girl and settle with her
My mom married up and was financially dependent on my father. That was a disaster as far as I was concerned; she could never stand up for us or for what made sense, and told me — you can always get more kids but you can’t get another husband. I married twice without regard to what the men I married were earning at the time I married them, but they at least had jobs when I married them. The first marriage was to a friend of my parents who was 25 when I started dating him when I was 15. The second was to my boss, who was 36 when I married him when I was 25. Both times: these guys stopped working soon after I married them, watched TV, refused to work. I guess they thought that was what marrying up was about. Both rattled their sabers about alimony when I left them. The second one told me he had talked to a lawyer about how he could clean my clock since I made more money than he did. That is not what, I hope, real men are all about, but it’s a lesson I will have to be sure my daughter is aware of. I don’t want her threatened with alimony by a guy who tells her to fuck off, that women don’t have the testosterone to support a family, and, by the way, he wants alimony.
In all of this: I supported 3 kids (still fully supporting 2, who are still in high school) from these marriages. Their fathers figured it was my job to take care of that.
Well why not to look at the divorce situation from entirely different pont of view. When both partners are working, it gives them less time to socialize. It is true that divorced couples don’t have many common friends.
One always finds career couples going separately to address their social obligations, be it Holiday party at office or friend’s birthday. A home stay woman always accompanies the man in such social events and that helps them make common friends. Whereas a career couple tend to blame their spouses for their inadequacies and many times avoid going with them. Common friends could be the best marriage rescuers than any paid consulars. They know all that is going on from kitchen, bed and at work.
Don’t be afraid of getting dumped by a career women, be a man, it only makes things easy. There is more money to hire a nanny to clean your home. If you die, your kids don’t have to live at mercy of others.
A career woman is more willing to sign a prenuptial. The most important difference i find is, you can make a very intelligent conversation with a career women. She gets easily convinced or else makes you aware of things you don’t know.
I want to marry a woman with high income and patience.
I LOVE WOMEN CAREER NO CAREER, I WILL SOON HAVE ALL THE MONEY I NEED AND RETIRED AT 51 FORMER US MARINE RECON, FATHER OF TWO COLLEGE AGE SON,S NOW AT COLLEGE, THEY HAVE THEIR LIVES I HAVE MINE I AM NOT LOOKING FOR A CAREER WOMAN AS MUCH AS A GOOD WOMAN, ONE WHO LOVES SNUGGLING KISSING HOLDING HANDS AND IS NOT AFRAID OF BEING JUST A WOMAN AND HAS MY HEART TO BOOT FAME AND FORTUNE PASS BUT REAL LOVE IS ALL THE GOLD 2 PEOPLE REALLY NEED, I MADE THAT UP BUT IT IS TRUE, OH BY THE WAY I WANT A FULL FIGURED WOMAN, IN HER MIND AS WELL AS BODY NOT FOR SEX SAKE AS MUCH AS FOR A BIG HEART, SOME ONE TO ADORE.
I’d like to marry a career woman. It’s been a dream of mine since age 8. *sigh*
What a stupid article. Women are geting smart. That’s why they are leaving the workforce in DROVES. What are they looking for? Could it perhaps be something more fulfilling than MONEY? Oh, say it isn’t so! What could possibly be more important than money? Oh, I know – family.