To understand the female psyche is to understand the core of a woman; the way we think and feel; the way we see men, and most importantly, the way we communicate. We are multi-faceted creatures, our emotions run deep, like an unseen current in a placid lake. More than anything, we want men to understand our inner selves, and see us for the human beings we are: compassionate, loving, maternal, and willing to compromise to strengthen our relationships.

On reflection, I would say our most important facet, is how we communicate. We communicate through our emotions in many ways that other women understand. When we talk to each other, there is a lot of detail to our sentences. We like and understand long, flowery sentences, lots of details that may go off on a tangent before doubling back to the subject: we want WORDS, and lots of them. Why? Because it is part of our genetic programming, gentlemen, it's the way we are. And the emotional aspect, the CONNECTING to another human being THROUGH words is also a part of who we are. Good communication skills ARE our psyche.

It is the reason we drop hints, expect guys to act the way we want, and the reason we are polite about asking you to help with chores. It is the reason you hear us say things like "Why don't you LISTEN to me?"; "We have to talk", and start some sentences with "How do you feel?" All of which I KNOW you don't understand. The fact of the matter is that we DO use a lot of words. We DO want complex sentences with lots of detail. And when we ask why you don't listen, it means we have noticed you are ignoring everything we say, giving us that brief "Huh?" answer at just the wrong moment. We hate that huh-thing more than we hate sports, although they come under the same heading: that you don't listen.

When I tell my hubby forcefully that he's not listening to me, I get this: "I listened! I heard every word you said!" It makes my blood boil, because listening and HEARING are not the same thing. "Hearing" means my conversation is background noise he could recite back to me, but LISTENING means we are carrying on a mutual conversation.

Next comes our propensity for dropping hints that go right over your heads, and past your conscious thought as if they never happened. If for instance, a woman hints that she'd like new curtains for the living room AND you hear her and buy some, they will inevitably be the wrong kind. If your wife starts crying when she sees them, you will end up saying something like

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