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I don't think it's so much that men and women have forgotten their traditional roles as it is that life has changed so much that those roles are largely obsolete in the context of modern living. There are so many more roles to play and decisions to make that it takes two people fully involved to negotiate a day to day existence. Therefore that traditional reliance on the man to "take charge" (which has always been somewhat of an indulgent myth anyway) is being bred out of us. It's evolutionary. Myself, for the last two years I've been a single parent who is by necessity filling all the roles and has never once thought to myself, boy I sure would like a man to come in and take charge so I don't have to worry myself with all these problems. What I have thought is "I wish I had some help!"
And as for the dominant/submissive roles as they pertain to sexual relations, for me, they are two uniquely independent arenas. In life, it doesn't exist, there are no such roles. In the bedroom, it is theater, make believe - perhaps fulfilling some primal need to hearken back to the hunter/gatherer days when there really were such unique male/female roles played out in everyday life, but of no significance to my own practical needs on a daily basis.
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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce
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