When Planets Collide

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Middle aged men and women…heads up! It’s gonna be a bumpy ride…:roll_eyes: :smiley:

Boomer Women Are Headed To Mars, Men to Venus

Thursday, Feb 07, 2008 - 12:09 AM

By ELIZABETH MCLAUGHLIN
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST

Even though boomers are the generation that has pushed for equality between the sexes, they will agree that there are differences between men and women. It’s the differences that make life interesting. For instance, in one of his lucid moments Timothy Leary said, “Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.” See? Interesting.
We see differences between boomer men and women every month when we pore through the Consumer Intentions & Actions study among 7,000 consumers conducted by our partner, BIGresearch. Some differences are expected: Boomer women are much more likely to report that they’ve readjusted their priorities in the past six months, while more men report they haven’t changed a thing. Some differences are curious: Boomer women are less confident in the economy over the next six months than boomer men, and are less likely to believe they are saving enough money to meet their future needs.
Even when we look at higher-income boomers, the differences on money and the economy remain significant. Is this driven by the worry gene that seems to be more dominant in women than men? Or is it a sign that women, who often manage the money on a daily basis, have a more pragmatic and realistic view compared to the rose-colored viewpoint of men? Or, could these differences even be rooted in the hunter versus gatherer origins of males and females?

Let’s agree for now that at the very least we’ve come across an interesting topic for tonight’s dinner table.

HERE’S ANOTHER one. Boomers are now experiencing a fascinating development as they reach their 50s and beyond. Boomer women have begun getting more in touch with their masculine side, while boomer men have become more feminine. Here’s the surprise: Both are normal human developments.
This came to attention through the work of David Wolfe, author of Ageless Marketing. Wolfe reports that Carl Jung observed the fact that adult women in midlife or older begin to reflect more of their masculine side – their animus. By contrast, in midlife males get more in touch with their feminine side – their anima. With most boomers in their 50s and beyond, it’s their turn for this flip-flop.
It’s tempting to dismiss this as psychobabble, but then think of the stereotypes we know so well: “tough old grandma” and “gentle old granddad.” Those stereotypes are based on biological changes in older people.
In his book, The Irritable Male Syndrome, Jed Diamond points out that both men and women have naturally occurring estrogen and testosterone levels in their bodies. As women pass through menopause their estrogen levels decrease relative to their natural testosterone levels. As men reach their late 50s and beyond, their testosterone levels decrease relative to their estrogen levels. Diamond likes to say, “Men get more ‘esty’ and women get more ‘testy.’” (Funny guy; bet he’s single.)
THIS PHYSICAL explanation makes sense, though, and makes us wonder what’s next for older boomers as the women head to Mars and men target Venus. Two thoughts spring to mind:

(1) Boomer women are going to be a force to be reckoned with. Once the kids are raised and the parents are no longer under her care, she’s got time, energy, determination, and in many cases, an education, that she’s eager to put to good use. We expect to see boomer women opening businesses, leading organizations, and running for political office.

(2) Boomer men are going to be great as grandfathers. Thanks to the women’s movement of the 1970s, boomer men have been more involved in the care, feeding, and nurturing of their children than were fathers from previous generations. The emotional satisfaction from that experience is one boomer grandfathers will recreate with their grandkids.
The differences between the sexes will be fascinating to follow as boomers enter these next phases of life and seemingly head into opposite orbits. We’ll be watching.

Elizabeth McLaughlin is the COO of the Southeastern Institute of Research, home to the Boomer Project.

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This was actually a topic in one of my psychology classes. At the time it was discussed in terms of changing hormones (after menopause, women often experience testosterone as much more dominant than in their past) and gender roles from being a parent to being “empty nest”. I believe pheromones might also play a role. The “old man” pheromone, androsterone, is relatively soft. Remember the time I said I felt like “Wilfred Brimley” on the stuff alone? Masculine, but not a hard kind of masculinity- closer to the nurturing aspect of femininity. It’s more of a “protection” vibe.

However, I think alot of aging boomers are going to get into supplements and other tonics to influence their aging in ways that past generations have not, including with pheromones (though I expect this will be a niche thing for some time to come, hopefully). Also, some boomer males never were that much of “hippies” or rebels and I don’t think boomer males are necessarily going to become cuddly teddy bears- many may just feel a bit, um, emasculated and it could be an issue for them.

The more worrying that women do could be due to a tendency for women to internalize feelings or problems, men tend to externalize anxiety or feelings onto other people, to blame other people rather than themselves. This is why depression often has very different manifestations between men and women, for instance. Depressed men often have an element of anger to their depression, as well, sometimes quite severe. Men seem much more “ego defensive” than women, in all sense of the term (clinical and laymen’s). I believe this is at least in part, a cultural phenomenon in Western/Asian cultures, in some cultures men being more emotionally expressive is acceptable- it also has a biological underpinning, though. Some psychologists (and neuropsychologists), actually believe men are more emotional/moody than women, but often less able, for various reasons, to deal with these emotions.

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Collied?

Go Lassie - Woof Woof.

LOL.

Reps

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LOL. You dawg. Aw…comere…Bella will rub your ears. :smiley:

Thanks for the reps…lol :wink:

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LOL…you dawg. Aw…comere little guy…Bella will rub your ears. :smiley:

Thanks for the reps…lol :wink:

Tish is gonna fix it. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Remember - I’m only half ferengi - lol!:open_mouth: :smiley:

np - good article.

Bummer - no one will understand my post now :stuck_out_tongue:

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Yea, even my boomer neuropsychologist boss is gettin the midlife moody thing - LOL! I’m waiting for him to drive up in a red sports car - sobbing…