Alpha

A Globe and Mail fluff piece on so-called alpha females.

Putting aside for a moment the journalistic worth of the piece, the problem is that the behaviour they're describing isn't alpha. It's self-sufficient and competent, to be sure. This wide range of life skills isn't nothing - I can't do half this stuff (although I've deliberately arranged my life so I don't have to - I don't know whether I gain or lose points for that). But it isn't alpha. Alpha implies dominance over something or someone. And being able to maintain your own household and possessions has nothing to do with that.

Also, I take exception to this quote: The bigger question, Dr. Heald says, is: "Why are women in 2007 growing up with the idea that someone is going to do half the work?"

Thing is, I don't think they are. Everyone quoted in this article is well over 40. They grew up well before 2007. If you're going to make a sweeping statement about women growing up in 2007, find some women who are actually growing up in 2007.

I'm close to that age group (a bit older) and as I take mental inventory of all the opposite-sex couples I know in my age cohort, I can think of maybe one case where the man began living independently before the woman. (And in that case, the man is older enough to be significant.) In some cases they both began living independently at the same time, but in the majority of cases the woman began living independently first. I'm not claiming this is a significant social trend or anything, but it is what I observe watching young adults around me - which is more than the article did before making a sweeping statement about this generation.