I too believe there is room for both. To acknowledge only the positives is as much a caricature as to acknowledge only the negatives. If they really are positives and negatives. I see them all as characteristics that can be up to good or bad use.

For several years I lived alone, and enjoyed it. When I married I did not move in with a clone of myself. Why clutter up my living space with someone that adds nothing to what I am already? We are different, each with our own talents. We share them, and use them to help and support each other.

Do I make jokes about my wife? Oh yes, and she joins in the laughter. Does she make jokes about me ? Yes and I laugh too. We laugh at the space in between too. Do we lack respect for each other? No. There is no malice. This is not conflict, it's fun, an acknowledgement of both out similarity and our diffences. I can honestly say that voices in our house are far more often raised in laughter than in anger.

I see them as caricatures, not steriotypes. Do any of us fit the mould? Of course not, we're not meant to, but there is a little bit of all of us in there somewhere.

Peter it depresses you because you see it as conflict - men vs women. It is not, it is as much an appreciation of both men and women as yours. Just a different way of saying it, that's all. Don't be depressed, join in the laughter as well as the serious acknowledgement. There is room for both. Shame it has to be said in different threads.

Brian