Practical Wisdom from the Entrepreneurs Creative Edge by William Reed

When a play runs more than 2 years with over 700 performances on Broadway, then comes to be seen by 8 million people in 45 countries and 30 different languages, it’s fair to say that it has struck a fairly universal theme.

Defending the Caveman is a comedy play written and performed by American comedy actor Rob Becker, and is an attempt to call a truce in the war between the sexes. While it takes the male point of view, it is also sympathetic to the woman’s perspective, and goes beyond both by dissolving the conflict through laughter.

You can learn more about the show on the official website at http://defendingthecaveman.com, and you can also find trailers and reviews on YouTube.

Books about relationships between the sexes are an evergreen topic. John Gray wrote one of the bestselling books of the 1990s, Men Are from Mars, Women are from Venus. This book provides practical advice on how to improve relationships, with a scientific and psychological foundation, and a well-designed website at http://www.marsvenus.com

All of this reflects a massive identity crisis, with authors of both sexes firing back and forth, and sometimes offering solutions for a sensible truce. Those who take a position on one side or the other are bound to set themselves up as a target for the other side to shoot at. Men and women are different, and authors such as Rob Becker and John Gray recognize and celebrate the differences.

Whatever your personal definition of manliness is, there seem to be a trend toward emasculation. Male voices seem to have risen an octave since the popular songs of several decades ago. Remember the days of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Mick Jagger, and what ever happened to Mr. Bass Man? And the same has happened in the Japanese music charts, as male voices have risen and female voices have descended. Businesses for cosmetic skin care and beauty treatments (Men’s Este) are thriving, as young Japanese men remove facial hair and get manicures. The new manliness seems a lot like womanliness, and this seems to be an aesthetic, not a sexual preference.

NPR did a feature on the rising phenomenon of herbivore boys, about the sensitive new age girly guys, who are heterosexual but shun macho behavior and are extremely passive, who love sweets and favor such practices as eyebrow plucking. They celebrate mild personalities. These boys are in contrast to another rising breed, carnivore girls. What would the Samurai say? You can listen to an excerpt from the broadcast and read an article about it on the NPR website through this short link at http://budurl.com/b8ny.

And while the caveman’s image, with his rough edges, typical male faults, and bad boy behavior seems to be a dying breed, there are those who seek to rescue it with more refinement. One such attempt to revive the lost art of manliness is a website called The Art of Manliness at　http://artofmanliness.com, which celebrates the finer aspects of manliness, without endorsing any of the brutish aspects. It contains many interesting articles and blog posts related to lifestyle, dress and grooming, health and sports, manly skills, money and career, relationships and family. It is a nice blend of retro and contemporary perspectives on the art of manliness, and much of it is authored by a husband and wife team, Brett and Kate McKay.

Diversity is usually a good thing, and many of the male and female stereotypes of the past were restrictive and artificial. Nevertheless, it is worth considering the subject from various points of view, recognizing that the differences are real, and as the French say, long live the difference!

William Reed WEBSITE: http://www.williamreed.jp WEB TV: http://williamreed.tv NANBA: http://www.nanbanote.com iPAD CREATORS CLUB: http://ipadcreatorsclub.com BLOG: http://www.EntrepreneursCreativeEdge.com