Don’t become successful, women. No man will ever want you.
It’s a story as old as time. Young couple fall in love, move in together, build a family. But dreams get in the way. Success and money, fame and temptation. Someone’s career is soaring, the other is put on hold to hold the baby.
Sounds like a familiar story, right?
But what’s not so usual, even in 2015, are the genders of the characters involved.
The person whose career was in ascendancy? A woman.
The person staying home? A man.
Well, of course it was never going to work.
At least, that’s how the narrative is being played out as the gossip mags pick over the detritus of another celebrity couple going through a split – Jessica Marais and James Stewart.
As The Daily Mail breathlessly reports:
‘James was threatened by Jess’ success,’ a friend close to the Love Child actress believes, claiming that the pressure of competing careers put a strain on their relationship.
Australian-Chinese Stewart, born James Koo, spent two years away from the screen as a stay-at-home dad to the pair’s daughter Scout, who was born in May 2012.
When a high-profile couple splits, the media need a story. And if no-one is actually talking, then they need to create one from the facts available, and there’s a cliche that is too good to resist:
A man can’t handle a successful woman.
Followed by:
No man wants his partner to earn more than he does.
A man will always feel threatened and intimidated by a successful woman.
Don’t believe me? Here you go, some cold, hard celebrity facts:
Think about these couples. In every one of their break-ups, the story went that the man could not deal with his partner’s success. Sometimes it was the subtext, sometimes it was the overt narrative – these women got too successful, it was not the natural order of things. Their relationship had to end.
Men are such fragile, fey little creatures, with such vulnerable egos, that they can’t possibly hack it when their other half is doing well at work, and they are not.
Top Comments
I think there is a bit of a curse if both parents are striving for big jobs...which is highly likely. They might be a happy family but completely chaotic to the point where they constantly need favours done and don't have time for anyone outside their household. This also makes it hard to find time to eat healthy, exercise, contribute to society (earning a wage doesn't count) and relax. There are other ways to be successful besides working.
It is all contrived BULLSHIT. Hallelujah It's out there and needs to get out there so it seeps into the pore of every media creton, every man, woman, girl and boy from the moment they open their eyes!