This is my inaugural weekly article for the prestigious Demystifying Divas and Men’s Club. The topic this week involves discussing the similarities between men and sports and women and shopping.

I have to admit, this is actually a bit of a tough one for me. I mean, I fall into the typical stereotype of most men — I just don’t see the fascination with buying out entire shopping malls. I shop with a purpose, with a decidedly male mentality — have goal, seek goal, accomplish goal, get out. I don’t do a whole lot of browsing, usually because I don’t have the money to spend anyway, so it’s just depressing to look at things I want but can’t afford. And if I _can_ afford it, then I buy it. Either way, my shopping expeditions are short and sweet, divide and conquer.

But I don’t fall into typcial male stereotypes when it comes to sports, either. I don’t understand, and never have, the single-minded fascination with watching numerous sporting events. Mind you, I _am_ an athlete (or was, once upon a time), so I enjoy sports. And I do like to sit down occasionally and take a game in, but my entire being isn’t devoted to such pursuits. I have other things that I enjoy more and plenty of other things that both _have_ to be done and that I _want_ to do. So, very little of my time is given over to sports.

My wife and I actually don’t look like your typical Cleaver family. She doesn’t cook at all (though she does bake sometimes); I do all of our cooking. We share the housekeeping responsibilities. She does all our taxes every year. We take turns with various responsibilities, and she is very much the one who takes the initiative at scheduling people to make repairs on our ‘new’ home. She’s the one who’s emotionally stable; I’ll sometimes fall apart bawling at the drop of a hat.

As a result we tend to defy most of your typical stereotypes. So, when I think about trying to compare the male addiction to sports with the female obssession with shopping, I have to do so as an outside observer because I really don’t fit into either mold. They certainly _can_ be linked on their respective levels of fanaticism — they consume a large quantity of both time and money, and they can create quite a bit of conflict in relationships. How are they different? Other than the obvious one’s-sports-the-other’s-shopping bit, they really are pretty similar as they relate to their traditional genders. Sports tend to be hard and brutal, thus allowing men to express their masculinity, where shopping is considered more soft and fluffy, and so appealing to women’s femininity. Both, however, ought to be regulated with self-discipline and wisdom as both can be extremely destructive if allowed to run amok.

Check out the others in our elite little club for other perspectives — “Silk”:http://justbreathe.blogs.com/, “Theresa”:http://www.thismomblogs.com/2006/02/02/men-vs-women/, “Phoenix”:http://villainsvanquished.blogspot.com/, and “Ally”:http://whomovedmytruth.com/?p=549 as the lovely divas, and “James”:http://jamesyboy.blog-city.com/ and “Darren”:http://rightontheleftcoast.blogspot.com/ as the other men.

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