Manimony

That is intersting... A good debate.

Why be ashamed if you are a male. The missing element is accountability. Woman just hate it, in fact we say they failed in equal divisions, not just on the issue, but also in child support or custody issues.

Equal rights for equal pay. Don't we as the employers or taxpayers adjust to woman? Why should men be ashamed...or ashamed of?

Manimony is an insult to the many men I have known who went to work and supported their "loving" wife and children willingly. They didn't marry their spouse because they thought she could "financially make a profit" for them. They respected her input and realized each of them has unique talents.

Some couples choose to work together. Men or women who only "marry for money" are not usually the happiest people on the planet.

As women strive even harder to "prove their self-worth by becoming more like powerful men" relationships seem to suffer especially when children are involved. Useless arguing, dragon-like talons and nasty dispositions are adding to painful breakups that are becoming more the norm than the exception.

A fair and legal prenuptial agreement is wise for both men and women. A postnuptial agreement can allow for changes that take place after the marriage especially if children are involved. Nobody likes to feel used or unappreciated. Spelling out the details in writing makes sense.

Dear Donald Trump,

Equal:
that is the day Arab wives kill their husbands because of questions of honour.
Equal:
that is the day Arab mothers get their daughters to kill their sons in case of honour-problems.

Until then women and men are not equal anywhere in the world.

Mr. Trump,

You have a mischievous humor! I like it.

My advice...Always have a written agreement (i.e. pre-nuptial agreement). As a friend said to me during my divorce, this is a business transaction treat it accordingly.

Cheers,
Jessica Bond

http://jessicabond.blogspot.com/2008/07/marriage-and-career-mobility....

Mr Trump,

Signing a prenup is a very good idea. But I think marrying the right person in the first place is a better idea. If you give the relationship some time in the beginning and get to know each other better during that period. it would save a lot of money, rather than going thru marriage and then eventually breaking up.

Prince Dudley
Systems Engineer,
http://birdseyesview.blogspot.com

Was a little disappointed in this article. Almost everything you write about marriage is about divorce or unhappy husbands and everything you write about divorce is about money. For the statistical point to make logical sense, you need to quote the percentage of divorces where the wife makes more money- not the percentage of marriages. It might totally be possible that marriages where the woman is the higher-earner are less likely to end in divorce. You have already established in your last article on the topic that even though husbands in such marriages are sometimes clinically depressed, in general, the relationship is stronger. Maybe the reason that only 5% of husbands in such marriages seek alimony is because only 5% of those marriages end in divorce. It would be an interesting study- and an interesting way to lower the divorce rate. When we have true salary equity, then it will be a 50-50 proposition on who makes more money. That would cut the divorce rate nearly in half. On another of your blogs, you showed that women are more likely to make more money early in life. If that is true, then a lot of marriages would get off to a better start. Maybe the world is getting to be a better place to live- a healthier place to raise our children- when all women have equality with men.

If money is the largest concern for couples today, they are lucky. At least they have something worthwhile to argue about. Fighting fair, is more important than the amount of money you make. Equality in a relationship has a lot to do with how much you respect the other person. A man or woman who belittles, uses physical force to "get their way" or is uninterested in supporting the goals of their partner is an ideal candidate for the divorce courts. "Better to have loved and learned, than stay imprisoned by an imposter who promised to LOVE you for who you are, not for who they demand that you be."

As for Arab, Chinese, Russian, American or any other "stereotype" of what the role of a woman is,
education is necessary. Once a woman is educated properly, there is a better chance that she will be able to express her needs in a non-needy way and be treated with greater respect for natural differences.

Marriage is not a "real estate contract." It is a social agreement, meant to give stability to the couple, family, cities, towns or country in which they live. If women are considerd to have less "rights" than the family pet, they need to have the courage to stand-up and demand a change.

If the women who fought for equal rights in America didn't take the necessary actions to achieve more freedom, none of us would be watching Oprah on television today.

No, we don't have "perfect" relationships in all marriages, but unhappiness in that relationship should not have to be a life sentence of misery for a man OR a woman. There are too many people on the planet to begin and end your life unfullfilled.

When you make an agreement "get it in writing and make sure you detail your exit strategy should you need one." Word of mouth, is easily forgotten. Happiness is kindly remembered.
Be good to each other, and you wont have to split your rewards.

Interesting facts:

1) Donald Trump married with a pre-nup.
2) Bill Gates married without a pre-nup.
3) Oprah Winfrey won't get married.

What all the above have in commen is intelligence.

And as far as manimony (or mantenance) is concerned, real men have honor-- which is not the same as not being ashamed.

This is interesting but the problem with alimony for all genders in so many soldarity groups is that people often have a false sense of self-entitlement.

Here in Portugal the cases of alimony payment, either by women or men are not very usual (only for their children). People split up and each go their own way although they have by law, the right to ask for financial support. This situation leaves many people in a very difficult situation, sometimes without even enough money for food, house, etc. Cultural differences seem to contribute for these kinds of discrepancies between countries.
Congratulations fo your blog.
Patricia Fidalgo

Dear Mr. Donald Trump

On behalf of all your fans in Russia - thank you for everything you’ve done to delight the reading public! Unfortunately, not all of your fans know foreign languages, so we, Russian translators, have undertaken to translate your pieces into Russian and publish them in the Russian blogosphere in order to allow those who aren’t strong in foreign languages to read the best translations of your blog posts. We hope you won’t object, as this is a great opportunity to delight a wider audience! ?

Sincerely,
TransLink Agency
Translators from Russia

It's difficult for anyone to ask for help from someone they don't like. I would never ask for alimony and I'm female. But, if a woman has dedicated a large part of their life raising the kids and supporting her husband's activities, such as drinking or skirt-chasing, my response to receiving alimony is "you betcha!" and as far as paying the loser, "no way!".

Child support - absolutely. Alimony or Manamony. Not an option. The way I look at a couple's situation is simply we aren't entitled. We enjoyed the income while we were together, and the lifestyle to the point of divorce, but unless my arms are broke and I am totally disabled or he is, we both should get out and take care of ourselves. We should get to split the assets we acquired during the time we were together, but future income is up to each of us individually. Now, if it was my ideas and efforts that our business was built around, then, I should get my share there.

I think people seek alimony and manamony for revenge.