Claptrap!
Women NEED to respect their man. They don't respect one who won't fight for the family. No one says he has to be the one who always wears the championship ring, but he does have to be the one who willing to get down in the trenches, win or lose.
What happens to a man who senses he's not respected by his woman?
Now THAT'S depression!
I'm watching a tv program on this now. It's a little bit gay, I'm afraid.
~~~"The basic premise that men need a princess to rescue..."~~~
...is basically true, IMO, keeping in mind it's a mutual rescue. Life is lonely and the possibility of true love is open to all. No one should miss it. It's the third greatest gift from God.
Here's an example of how a woman remembers a man who, no doubt, would not be guest-starring on "Will & Grace."
Sonnet II
Time does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide
There are a hundred places where I fear
To go,—so with his memory they brim
And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his foot or shone his face
I say, "There is no memory of him here!"
And so stand stricken, so remembering him!
Edna St. Vincent Millay