Oh, Mr. Brown, you know I enjoy reading your work, but I have to weigh in here. Perhaps there's a cultural difference at play here, and if so, okay, I can accept that. I do understand that not everyone in the world orders their lives accoriding to western standards.

However, I am married and have a very peaceful relationship with my husband. I can accept that men and women have differences, however in respecting those differences, it comes down more to individual strengths and weaknesses as opposed to gendered roles. I am the leader in our home. I am the voice of authoirty. I do not require protecting. I certainly do not require him to provide for me.

My husband is no less of a man for this. He is a very good man. He works hard. I do too. But it just happens that I am the more logical, the more assertive, the more orgainized and thrifty of the two of us. Respect goes both ways. I respect his nature as an artist and free spirit and he respects mine as the more rigid, structured type. We've found a way to have a true partnership of equals in the sense that we are both of equal value but have different, complimentary strengths. Within that dynamic, I make him feel like a king and he makes me feel like a queen every single day.