Originally Posted by
FireSprite 
Exactly. SOCIETY has created this construct between the genders, it's not our natural The genders will never be identical, but I completely reject the notion that men are incapable & never desiring a stronger emotional connection in life. Nope.
I agree. And I see over and over again little girls who are raised to think that their only purpose in life is to find a man, to be a wife, and to fulfill some preconceived image of a happy nuclear family.
This was the hardest thing to reprogram in myself when I was dealing with an addicted partner. My mother was a codie and a people-pleaser, and so was her mother. Both spent their adult lives in miserable marriages, with tremendous anger and resentment toward their husbands. And they were my role models.
A good part of my recovery has been spent examining this truth and how it affects my own habitual patterns of thinking.