Turning Your Prince(ss) into a Frog: Embracing Double Standards

    Comments

  1. Bill,

    I love your book and this blog entry, too, which is as thought-provoking as every page in your book. Looking forward to hearing more from you. And I would LOVE to read some comments from JoAnn!

  2. Love this perspective! You have a Princess and you know how to keep her? Wonderful! Thank you.

    Linda

  3. Love it, so true. I just ended a relationship due to some of these factors. Would love to call in on your show!

  4. Thanks Pam. I hope you will call in! It’s more powerful when we talk live with people, rather than tell stories about them or ourselves.

  5. Thanks Chris! I spoke to JoAnn and told her that “her public awaits!” Not sure what she would write about – any ideas? I know she has a lot to say – her fitness training clients tell me that every session with her is like getting psychotherapy from Yoda.

  6. I do! He looks exactly like a cross between Dr. Andrew Weil (no relation) and Rob Reiner (also no relation :).

  7. Marx had a vision of society: “From each according to his ability, to each acording to his needs.” It may be impossible to engineer at the macro level, but –as this blog points out–it’s a great recipe for satisfying relationships. Thanks for this reminder that love, if we’re lucky, gives us the opportunity to rise above the pettiness and tit-for-tat, to be great.

  8. Thanks Creeto. I was pretty blind to this for say… 12 years of marriage (and who knows however many years of other relationships), but when it finally dawned on me, I couldn’t believe how blind I had been!

  9. Bill–I am fortunate and very blessed to have a man who embraces double standards. thank you for reminding me to appreciate him, and to go easy!
    Beth

  10. Hello Nadine. Yes, my whereabouts (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States) are a top secret. I’m telling you, but please don’t let this information get out 😉 I have to move every few months just to avoid the paparazzi. I’m thinking of joining the Witness Protection Program, but I can’t seem to get anyone to send me an application.

  11. Hello,

    I like what you’re saying about giving an acre of slack and I do understand how this fits into your concept. At the same time, I think that when there are different behavioral standards, this can become a pattern of control, and I think that needs to be clarified.

    You did clarify that you do not mean allowing your partner to treat you badly, or walk all over you, etc.

    Perhaps what I’m saying is that I personally truly value mutuality, and so I’m not comfortable with a partner who says he is allowed to yell but I am not or he is allowed to curse but I am not or who actually thinks he can tell me what I’m allowed to do!

    I would love to hear your thoughts on this. 🙂

    Thanks!
    Denise

  12. Denise – thanks so much for your thoughtful comment. I welcome the discussion – I almost said debate – but I think if I can communicate clearly enough about this, it won’t be a debate – we’ll likely agree.

    I don’t think I mean to talk about “control” – although I do believe that true control is the giving up of control. I love stories of prisoners who while in prison finally became free – because they accepted their surroundings for the first time in their lives. And yes, it’s worth another reiteration that I’m not talking about bad, controlling behavior.

    When JoAnn says “You’re not allowed to yell at me” what she’s really saying is something along the spectrum of “It’s hard for me to handle your disapproval” to “I can’t handle expressions of anger pointed at me from the person I love the most.” And if I do it enough, she won’t stick around for it. And, to be very clear, my “yelling” at JoAnn is raising my voice from a 3-out-of-10 to maybe a 5, and still communicating fairly responsibly.

    On to mutuality.

    I’m pretty clear that mutuality is a red herring at its best, and one of the most relationship-undermining concepts at its worst. First of all, there’s no way to tally what each partner in a relationship is doing for the other, or to keep track of it over time. Secondly, it maybe misses the point entirely. If I love the thrill I get when I bring JoAnn flowers and she squeals with delight… who is getting the gift here? If I bring her flowers every week and she never gives me flowers, does that mean we’re out of mutuality balance?*

    If I love to hold the door for her, hold her chair, etc., and do all those gentlemanly things that can be fun for a person who likes to think of himself as a gentleman, am I to expect her to occasionally hold my chair? **

    To each her own, of course. For example, there are people who love to be dominated (sexually and otherwise) and people who enjoy dominating. To them, mutuality is the dominator making demands and the submissive one filling them.

    Of course, I believe in fairness. I just think we need to be careful where we look for that fairness. I mostly judge by my emotional bank account. If JoAnn’s making more deposits than withdrawals (and vice versa), we’re generally in great shape.

    Contrast this with a prior, painful relationship. My (then) partner and I sapped each others energy; we were not loving, kind and generous with each other. With each of us constantly feeling emotionally overdrawn, things like who is doing more housework, bill paying, yard work, etc. became the only currency we had. And when we got to that low state of existence, “mutuality” (really, tit for tat) took center stage. And, from that state of mind, the other one always felt like s/he was getting the short end of the stick.

    * The truth is that I don’t buy her cut flowers – hardly ever, but I would if she liked them!
    ** I wish I was more like the gentlemanly guy I’m describing. I’ll work on it.

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