I’ve been the girl who wears sneakers and refuses to play the game of heteronormative romance, and the result is that indeed I have ended up the emotional nursemaid to guys who date girls who do play the game. And I’ve been the girl on the other side, the one in the lipstick and low cut tops who the guy views as more sexually appealing and more of a status symbol than the other kind of girl.

The main thing I want to point out is, very rarely was I consciously playing either role.

Instead, I had been cast in one position or another based on the man’s psychological needs.

The entire drama was playing out in his mind only.