Gender of the Emotions / Le Sexe des émotions

After sharing so many years together, men and women still don't know each other.Sometimes emotions unite them-- more often, they drive couples apart. How many misunderstandings, quarrels and conflicts could be avoided if only men and women would listen to each other!Each sex has its own emotional culture. Let's take a look at the evidence: It istrue that men are quicker to anger and women are more subject to fits of anxiet y. Masculine pride is no more a myth than feminine intuition a fable. There are differences, so why not take them into account?We are no doubt destined to be surprised by the other sex throughout our lives.But should we really give up hope of one day seeing men and women speak the same language and finally come to understand one another?In the war of words, let us make room for the pleasures of conversation. In the search for Same, let us opt to discover the Other. Men and women are different.Let us listen, love and respect our differences in an effort to turn around the old Andre Malraux dictum that goes: "A successful couple is a work of art. There are five per century."Alain Braconnier is a psychiatrist. He is the author, along with Eric Albert, of Tout est dans la tete, also published by Editions Odile Jacob.