I was talking about this with my brother recently and it turned into an interesting conversation. It is most men's hope to find a partner that they can build a life together with and if you ask women they will claim to desire the same. However, my experience with women always feels adversarial at a primal level. Women will constantly push for power and every time I concede enough for a woman to feel equal with me this inevitably leads to her trying to be on top of me - and not in the fun way. If that happens, the moment she gains the power, the relationship is over. I have not met a woman who is content with feeling equal and maintaining that. It seems to me then that at the primal-emotional level a power game is being played and men and women are never truly partners. They are always adversaries who occasionally call a truce when it serves their interest and engage in emotional combat when it does not.

Is this really the reality we live in? That relationship are inherently adversarial? Can a man ever truly relax in relationship with a woman, or must he always be ready to fight and win should the need arise? Because that sounds fucking exhausting and I don't know how ya'll in LTRs and marriages do it...