[Lorianne]

This is funny. I don't have any sympathy for the husbands. After all, they married them.

[Bon mots]

That's why sites like this pop up:

www.NoMarriage.com

[Dinsdale]

Q: Why are divorces so much more expensive the weddings?

A: They're worth it!

[antiunion person]

Can't you just divorce?" I asked.

"Are you kidding?" he replied. "I'd lose everything I've worked for, including my children, and I'd be paying her an indecent amount of money for life."

Has anyone ever heard of a contract hit??

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

The two husbands cited are not identified. They could be inventions but there are such shallow people out there--male and female. What a contrast to THIS:

---

Philippians 2:2-4 (NIV) ...then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

---

And a question I've been asking a long time, not-so-rhetorically, from Proverbs 31:
10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

[fr_freak]

This is funny. I don't have any sympathy for the husbands. After all, they married them.

I get the feeling that this story is somewhat fictionalized, but if we assume it's (mostly) true, then here are a couple of key passages you should re-read:

"I should know: many men of my age and acquaintance have become deeply bitter and disappointed about how their wives have changed since they hung up their working wardrobes."

"Can't you just divorce?" I asked.
"Are you kidding?" he replied. "I'd lose everything I've worked for, including my children, and I'd be paying her an indecent amount of money for life."

Men's and women's brains function differently, and some guys are completely incapable of understanding the complexities of the female mind. So, where you might see through the facade that a bimbo puts forth in only a few seconds, these guys cannot see through it AT ALL. Even after they get burned, these guys cannot understand exactly what happened. "She was always so nice, and she said she loved me."

I know a couple of guys who are prime examples of this. One I tried very hard, but failed, to talk out of marriage with a gold-digging b*tch, and the other who has been saved from 1 or 2 disastrous potential marriages, ironically, by the very same lack of understanding of female sensibilities (i.e. "How come you never bring me flowers?" "What - so you can sit them on the table for 2 days and watch them die? What the hell good is that?") that prevented him from seeing that she was a manipulative head case in the first place.

So, if you are going to laugh at these guys for marrying women who managed to portray themselves convincingly as loving companions, my question to you is: Do you also enjoy laughing at the handicapped?

[goldstategop]

There's something to be said for having an expensive wife and discovering its more expensive to divorce her. What a Hobson's Choice!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[torchthemummy]

I'm sorry but I just gets shades of Jayson Blair when I read this.

"says one husband"
"many men of my age and acquaintance"
"whispered an exhausted husband to me recently"
"said another angry husband"
"added a sympathetic onlooker"
"said irate husband number one"
"adds yet another voice to the growing army of fed-up husbands"
"chipped in husband number two"
"said another unfortunate husband"
"typical day outlined by one husband of a toxic wife"

I cannot prove that this writer didn't talk to these "husbands" but the sheer number of the equally inflicted just smacks of the new "anonymous sources journalism" where even first names aren't listed.

Except for "friend" Olivia. Somehow the writer has known said Olivia for a while and yet seems to have known nothing about her. The writers sharpest commentary is applied to the one source actually named - well first name at least.

There are no doubt women that do fit the profile highlighted here but it just comes across as a writer taking random thoughts, maybe some true tidbits here and there, and creating a composite reality via invented sources.

[MortMan]

Rich men, I believe, have finally cottoned on to the sinister side of the stay-at-home wife: unless you marry an equal who's going to pay her own way, you will end up with a lazy, indulgent, over-pampered slug. For the transition from trophy wife to toxic wife is as fast as the end result is furious.

My wife is a stay-at-home mom. She works much, MUCH harder than I do... Only she doesn't get a paycheck for her efforts.

Perhaps if these high-flying ultra-successful men married for love and dedication, rather than looks, they'd have found their "match", instead of just a "catch".

[MortMan]

"Vain, boring, indulgent and lazy," adds yet another voice to the growing army of fed-up husbands.

Were they really any different before they were married, or did the shiny packaging make the toy more appealing?

[WKB]

unless you marry an equal who's going to pay her own way, you will end up with a lazy, indulgent, over-pampered slug




Not if you keep her barefoot and pregnant.

[HamiltonJay]

Me thinks there is at least a bit of "artistic license" taken with this story.

Not that there are no women out there like this, but I believe there is a bit more fiction than fact in this one.

[KC_Conspirator]

"There's another reason these husbands don't divorce," added a sympathetic onlooker. "They don't want to admit to failure – they don't want to be ungallant. There's an unspoken nobility or gentlemanly understanding that divorce is something they don't do."

I believe there is some truth in this, especially in England.

[caver]

You are right! I have no sympathy for the husbands. They reap what they sow.

[JamesP81]

Likely to get some crap started ping.

[JamesP81]

One wonders why men would even bother with marriage anymore. Increasingly, they aren't and for good reason.

[Old_Mil]

For those of you doubting the veracity of this article, I was married to this woman:

"It is like a perversion of the evolution theory: they have evolved into creatures whose function is simply to get the most for doing the least," whispered an exhausted husband to me recently. "I wouldn't mind providing her with so much if she just did something for me occasionally. She's never even once cooked me a meal."

...for 4.5 years. She filed for divorce when I lost my job.

[stevio]

Proverbs 31:
10 A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

[DugwayDuke]

""My wife," chipped in husband number two, "gives over the whole of the weekend to pursuing what she calls 'me time'."

Nothing new here. Four of us used to play golf. One day, one of the guys announced this would be his last day to play. His wife would be giving birth in a few weeks so he would be busy. Now, that was understandable but he went on that after the baby was born, he would be taking care of the baby on the weekends so his wife could have 'her time'.

We all wished him well.

[Fierce Allegiance]

I'd be happy with someone who just wants to be as good to me as I am to them.

[Redleg Duke]

It is unfortunate that there are no "truth in packaging" laws. If there were, we "stupid men" wouldn't have to place all, repeat, all of you women in the "probable toxic-wife" category!