It's tough out here for men

This is a fascinating post on the differences between men and women. Her central premise -- that men have difficult lives than women today -- is certainly open to debate. Some might say a better statement of the situation is that men get less respect from the media and the popular culture.

But there are some real insights on things like feelings (though women like to express them and men don't, that doesn't mean men don't have them or that women are more "nurturing") and our different approaches to love and sex (basically, women want to be in love with the men they sleep with, and men want to sleep with the women they are in love with).

And if you haven't seen a teen magazine lately, that part of the post should be a real eye opener. The stuff in there now is what you might have expected in Penthouse 20 years ago, the result of which is :

that intimacy has been defined downward, especially for our young girls, to mean little more than a "hook-up." This is something Buster talks to me about. Children, but especially girls, are being sexualized at ever-earlier ages.

The best lines in the piece are from Jeff Foxworthy ("Men are simple creatures. They want a beer, and they want to see something naked") and Ron White ("Once you've seen a naked woman, you want to see them all"). There's as much truth as humor in those statements.