Women’s expectations in marriage.

I found the following video about men’s and women’s expectations regarding marriage on the blog What Men Are Saying About Women Sex Differences: Why Won’t Men Commit?

Not a bad video, but I think it misses the key point.  I didn’t feel like I was giving up on my dreams when I got married.   Being happily married was one of my dreams.  I think the real disconnect is men dream of marriage and far too many women dream only of the wedding.

In my post Her husband was her best friend the discussion in the comments thread turned to the question of women’s expectations in marriage.  My wife has often commented that based on the Disney version of fairy tales many American women have extremely unrealistic expectations of marriage.  They expect flowers and romance every day, and aren’t prepared for the reality of everyday married life.  She feels that the Brothers Grimm versions prepared her much better.  J made a similar comment:

It’s a real pity that most women go into marriage not understanding what to expect. We think we are going to find Prince Charming and then live a life of unremitting romance. Instead, we end up spending a lot of our time picking up socks off the floor. No one tells you that’s gonna happen–although it’s not a bad life if your expectations are in line. No one tells you that marriage run in cycles. There are bad times, but if you’re patient, the good times come around again.

Until very recently I would agree with the assessment that women’s exaggerated expectations from marriage were due to the messages they receive from Disney movies and other media.  However, I learned in the response section to my post on EPL being tacky that women are in no way influenced by the media in matters regarding marriage. This has me perplexed.