Valentine's Special with Amy Alkon

Amy Alkon joins me again on PJTV for a Valentine's Day segment to discuss why she calls the day "our national day of insincerity," if Valentine's Day should include steak and bj's for men and those annoying jewelry commercials.

You can watch here.

Ask Dr.Helen Column

My PJM column is up:

As if it's not bad enough to be laid off, men often get criticized for being upset and depressed by it.

The column is an extension of the post I wrote the other day about men being "addicted to success."

You can read it here.

PJTV has a health care forum going on live that I have been watching. There is some terrific discussion among the panelists about government control of doctors, how Obama's plan will not truly allow you to keep your coverage, and how markets can and do work in healthcare. It is available for free and without registration.

Forbes: Who belongs to the "investor class?"

John Hawkins interviews Roger Simon on his new book, Blacklisting Myself: Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in the Age of Terror. I actually read Roger's book recently and it was quite an intriguing story.

Are men who lose their jobs just "addicted to success?"

Stuart Schneiderman: Reverse sexism in the Wall Street Journal:

Psychotherapists may be short on practical experience, but they are supposed to be masters of empathy. If you have been traumatized, they will be at-the-ready to feel your pain, to offer you comfort and consolation.

Unless you happen to be a man who is out of work, whose thirty-year career has just vanished, who is lost and adrift, suffering both a loss of income and a blow to his identity......

In today's Wall Street Journal Kevin Helliker writes that the sad sacks who have lost their careers, their income, their social status, and their identities are suffering because they were "addicted to success" and were over-identifying with their work. Link here.

This is guilt tripping at its best. Dripping with contempt Helliker analyzes their anguish: "The deepening recession is exacting punishment for a psychological vice that masquerades as a virtue for many working people: the unmitigated identification of self with occupation, accomplishment, and professional status"...

Now that you have seen the way psychologists want their male patients to process trauma, imagine these empathy-mongers facing a woman who had been sexually harrassed. Would they tell her that she was suffering because she had over-identified with her sexual being? Would they declare that she is suffering because she had not spent enough time with her family? Or would they declare that her anguish is simply evoking unprocessed childhood traumas?

You know, it's no wonder men are reluctant to go to psychologists. I read recently that more men are going to treatment since they are losing their jobs at higher rates than women but I have to wonder if they are really getting the help they need or just being blamed for being "addicted to success."

Multivitamins don't seem to help prevent disease:

The largest study ever of multivitamin use in older women found the pills did nothing to prevent common cancers or heart disease. The eight-year study in 161,808 postmenopausal women echoes recent disappointing vitamin studies in men.

Millions of Americans spend billions of dollars on vitamins to boost their health. Research has focused on cancer and heart disease in particular because of evidence that diets full of vitamin-rich foods may protect against those illnesses. But that evidence doesn't necessarily mean pills are a good substitute.

I always felt sick after taking multivitamins and never much did. At least now, I don't have to feel bad about it.

Should men boycott Valentine's Day?

Valentine's Day is coming up next week and I found an old post on Men's News Daily entitled, "Boycott Valentines Day!" The post was written by Marc H. Rudov, author of The Man's No-Nonsense Guide to Women: How to Succeed in Romance on Planet Earth and Under the Clitoral Hood: How to Crank Her Engine Without Cash, Booze, or Jumper Cables. Wow, what a title! Rudov states:

Are men worthless? Only if they never demand fairness and reciprocity from women — and many men don’t. Valentine’s Day, and all of its pathetic rituals, represents the failure of men to stand up to women — who, ironically, don’t respect these eunuchs and don’t sexually crave them, either.

Visualize the annual V-Day ritual: women clucking around their office water coolers and late-morning Pilates classes in anticipation of receiving Vermont Teddy Bears or long-stem roses, while men are wringing their hands, dreading this day, resenting the pressure, wondering what, if anything, would please their wives and girlfriends. Why such anxiety? No man wants to end up in the proverbial doghouse without sex.

What a pathetic picture: women using sex as a weapon; men living in fear. The evidence of “romance heaven” is clear: alimony and child-support cash registers are ringing nonstop, the marriage rate is falling, infidelity is rampant, the out-of-wedlock birthrate is skyrocketing, and children — society’s future parents — are more dysfunctional and immature than ever.

I never knew Valentine's Day had such meaning! I just try to go out and find a nice gift that my husband will like and I think he tries to do the same. But some men apparently feel put on trial and buy out of obligation rather than desire. Rudov has a graph here showing that 46% of men feel obligated to buy a gift and spend more money while only 6.3 % of women feel obligated to buy a gift and spend less money. Is this true? Certainly seems plausible.

Do you enjoy buying Valentine's gifts for your significant other or do you feel obligated?