"you're better off just buying a hooker, that way you just pay once. Get a girlfriend or a wife and you're paying for God only knows how long..."

In some respects I find myself agreeing [respects I won't elaborate on], but fundamentally, I can't find any merit in the statement. Firstly, I find that if anyone pays [speaking of men in general] it's because they choose to pay. Many men find that the women in their lives are worth every bit of sacrifice made; be it cash, personal liberty, or the occasional dream or two set aside in favor of the woman in question. Lets face it, relationships require some measure of sacrifice, and not just the realtionship between a man and a woman. Every relationship requires some bit of sacrifice. More often than not we make the sacrifice without realizing what we're doing, setting our own desire aside in favor of anothers. And it's not always to gain a favor, or an advantage. Most often it's done selflessly, but as I stated, it's also done unknowingly-- which is probably the primary reason most people perform these selfless sacrificial acts [apologies for that bit of cynicism].

Secondly, I don't like the idea of viewing women as money/power-hungry whores. A few [perhaps] are, but thats not at all an accurate portrait of women in general, or women as a whole. Women sacrifice, and have sacrificed as much and more than have men. When you consider that men have dominated society for thousands of years, the light of a mere 3+ decades old womens movement, while bright, is still very much in its infancy. Women still sacrifice, despite the gains they make each and every day in the family, in the workplace, and in society.

I believe to love a woman a man must sacrifice. But not simply for the plowing of any field, fertile or fallow. There is more purpose to loving a woman than sex. She is so much more, and the woman who appreciates the sacrifices made for her, is worth more than any word of praise, beyond any price, and truly worthy of the man who treats her with respect, first and foremost, and with love.

The trick these days is in the pairing, in a potential couples determination to treat their burgeoning relationship as something sacred, something to be cherished, honored, tended and defended at every turn. They need to be willing to listen as well as hear, and willing to humble themselves for the sake of their partnership, realizing that while in so doing, they sacrifice nothing of themselves, strengthening their bond against those times that will try their commitment to each other. These trials always come, and it's easier to win through if [speaking from a man's point of view] women are not looked upon in such a harsh light.

And I've said my peace...