Can a Man Thrive Without a Woman?

I heard a really interesting perspective a few weeks ago that had me throwing my hands up in praise because it is SO true. And it goes a little something like this..

A man can survive without a woman.  He cannot thrive without a woman. 

So, I asked CLS writers to chime in and give their perspective of what this perspective means to them.  Let’s see what they have to say…

Stacey’s two cents..

In response to your question, can a man/woman thrive without a mate, in short, no.

Yes, we can all survive without a mate, no question about that. However, I don’t think that a person can emotionally thrive without a mate. They can certainly thrive in the workplace and have successful friendships, but we were created to love and be loved. We can certainly find temporary companionship as there’s no shortage of people willing to participate in a one night stand. But we thrive when we are emotionally connected, when we are in loving, meaningful relationships. It’s more than the physical connection, it’s having someone to care about you, listen to you, and willing to fight for you and you being the same for them. It’s about his rib; him finding it and her being it. Just my two cents…lol.

Here is Lisa’s take on the perspective..

The phrase, “a man can survive without a woman. Yet he can thrive with a woman.” is true in many situations. I believe a man becomes better with a woman by his side. The bible also talks about, “Man should not be alone.”  I think a man would just be surviving without a woman. His life will be complete with a woman. Now, some men choose to allow their mother to be the woman in their life, but still then she is needed to help the man thrive.

The flip side, “a woman can survive without a man. Yet can thrive with a man.”  I believe women can survive without a man. I believe women can thrive with the right man!!  Sometimes, women do worse with the wrong man around. Therefore, I would have to say that women can thrive with a man that truly loves them and supports them.

Here is Crystal’s opinion..

A man can survive without a woman. Yet he can thrive with a woman.

I don’t believe a man can survive without a woman.  In my opinion, men don’t have the mental capacity to operate without a woman to stroke their ego and make them feel like they’re needed. With that said, a man will survive so long as a woman is with him for support and encouragement.

As far as thrive, a man can thrive with a woman he respects as a partner.

A woman can survive without a man. Yet can thrive with a man. 

As it relates to culture, my perspective is solely based on African American women.  I can’t honestly claim to have the same sentiments if I were to generalize this idea about women.

In my opinion, African American women by nature are equipped to take the lead in life. We are conditioned to always be in survival mode even with a strong man in our corner. Having the support of a man is a bonus.

As far as thrive, I feel the same as the flipped version. A woman can thrive with a man she respects as a partner.

And now the male perspective..

In my travels all across the US and dating back to my time in college, last century, there are distinctive qualities that women, especially mature women, possess that are reassuring to me.

I believe that all women have women’s intuition.  Many don’t know it. But it is one characteristic that I find reassuring.  For example, throughout my career I have worked with many women on many projects.  When it was time for me to decide what was best for the project, I always found time to speak to the women on the team for direction. Unfortunately, not every project decision was directly beneficial to the success of the project; however they provided me a more clear understanding of what we were doing and allowed us to find additional opportunities.

I tell this story to get to this point.  There are so many men who will tell mature women they (men) can survive without them (women), but what they may not realize is that they can’t thrive without a woman.

Even the book of Genesis points this out.  Adam was given a helpmate, not to rule over, but to rule with for him to thrive and for him to protect, adore, love, admire, and listen too.  

Mature women have this ability to see everything on the horizon, even if they don’t know it, accept it, or understand it.  Really think about it, how many times have they said the words, “I told you!”?  I grew tired of not acknowledging a mature woman’s ability and I began to respect their intuition and continue to do so every day.

So, based on these perspectives, the bottom line is that we need each other.  Men need women and women need men.  But not just any man or woman.  So, my next question then would be (and motivation for a future blog post), is how does one know when they have found that perfect complement?  And is there such thing as a perfect complement for each of us?  Hmmm…food for thought.  Until next time..

~Hilda