Are women confusing by nature?

You mean besides damn near every conversation I’ve ever had or seen any other woman have with a man? :stuck_out_tongue:

A classic example we hash out here a lot is the standard housework fight, which typically starts out something like this:

Woman: We need to get the house cleaned up today. ::starts cleaning::

Man: Yeah, you’re right. ::sits there::

an hour later

Woman: You know, that rug needs to be vacuumed.

Man: Oh, yeah, it does. ::sits there::

an hour later

Woman: Would you please vacuum the rug?

Man: Yeah, sure. ::sits there::

2 hours later

Woman: Get off your sorry ass and do some goddamn work, you lazy fuck!!!

Man: Why are you yelling at me?
I don’t know anyone IRL who hasn’t been involved in some variant of this conversation. Women tend to view it with a certain…amused resignation at how dense men are, men with an amused resignation at how crazy women are. How many times have you seen these housework threads include a comment to the effect of “Well, if you want us to do something, why don’t you just ask us to do it?” To which the women in the thread reply, “WTF should I have to lead him around by the nose like a not-very-bright child?”

Let’s look at the first part of the exchange. Women don’t really understand why they need to make the first statement at all–the men in question have eyes to see that the house needs cleaning, right?–but they accept the phenomenon of “male dirt blindness” and say it anyway. Implicit in the word “we” is the inclusion of the guy in question (unless she’s royalty.) Further implicit in her going to the hassle of pointing out what should already be apparent to him is that it needs to be done sooner rather than later.

Women understand that, because most of us have the little computer in our head that runs all the time calculating implications and consequences of any given action. Men, otoh, either don’t have the computer, or aren’t in the habit of using it, and they don’t get the same meaning from the comment.

Let me ask you this. Have you ever had a conversation along these lines?

Woman: Boy I’m really in the mood to have sex.

Man: Yeah, we haven’t had time to have sex in 4 days. ::sits there::

an hour later

Woman: You know, the kids are at my parents for the whole weekend. I could totally spend the afternoon in bed.

Man: Oh, yeah, that does sound great. ::sits there::

an hour later

Woman: Would you like a blow job up in the bedroom?

Man: Yeah, sure. ::sits there::

2 hours later

Woman: Get off your sorry ass and fuck me, you lazy fuck!!!

Man: Why are you yelling at me?

If not, what does that tell you? Your example isn’t exactly subtle. Men would have to all be high functioning retards to sincerely not get it. It’s not that they dont understand your communication style, it's that they dont want to clean and have chosen to ignore you because you’ve chosen to ask indirectly.

For what it’s worth, in your example the man is being very rude and the woman could be a little more direct, but it’s mostly the man at fault. I just don’t believe it’s a communication issue.