Interesting article and interesting comments.
I am recalling a popular 1984 movie called Paris Texas. The end of the movie had the long-lost mother working as a phone sex worker. I just could not imagine why men were willing to pay for that service. And now technology has enhanced what can be accomplished in these interactions. It is now a bigger business, which is sad for both the paying men and the working women.
Medium contributor Francesco Rizzuto often talks about how so many of our life interactions are transactional. And that includes our dating/partner/marriage relationships. Love and respect are less important than the material advantages one gets from these relationships. We have so much more to learn.
You mentioned that you would be interested in a solution. In Chapter 4 of my book, I talk about how to make consultative decisions. This discussion is more in a political sense, but I think these consultative principles could be applied in a relationship.
If we can't go down the consultative path, then there are two outcomes:
1) The partners come to compromise, which neither partner really likes. In time, too many compromises will eventually erode the relationship.
2) One partner takes a subservient role in the decision-making of the relationship. In previous generations, it was usually the woman.
Anyways, you might be interested in consultation. Here is the link to Chapter 4.
http://www.tiereddemocraticgovernance.org/tdg-chapter.php?id=4
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BTW, I wrote another article to annoy the left-wing political writers on Medium. My hope was that this would be my second viral article.
It has earned $5.83, which is considerably higher than my $1.50 average. But not viral.
