Editing Unravelled by a Shopaholic Thread

Dear Readers,
Now, generally, I do not need an excuse to explain why women are better than men, but today I decided to analyze just one of the myriad ways in which we are the superior gender. Women are amazing editors, film or otherwise. Quite simply, we were genetically preconditioned to do it. Let me explain...

It all comes down to shopping.

How does a man shop? He goes to Store A. One of two things happen here. If he likes something in Store A, he buys it. End of story. If not, he goes to store B and continues his focused search there. The story goes on like this. He finds what he wants and he leaves; the mission has been accomplished, Houston.

And how does a woman shop? She goes to the mall. She examines every corner of every store that sells the item she seeks, and is within (and sometimes beyond) her budget. After weighing up all the options, she returns to the store with the best version of the item and buys it, even if it is Store A itself. She does not see this as a waste of time. It's (market) research.

Why do we do this? Because we are trained to. Back when we all lived in caves and had no eBay, we had to fend for ourselves, and we all know who the hunters and who the gatherers were. And as gatherers, women did a damn good job of it. We examined the options and choose the vegetation least likely to kill us and most yummy to eat. Or something like that. Basically, we did then what we do now in malls.

And this brings me to the neat conclusion of my point. Women are great editors because when it comes to choosing the best take of a shot, or the best word to replace in a paragraph, we look at EVERY possible option before making a choice. We have the patience and energy for this and indeed most women relish it. Most men pick the first one that looks or sounds good and move on. In that way, women are better perfectionists and sticklers for detail. This could also explain why we like cushions, dessert forks and napkin rings, but more on that another day. For today, I have had my say on this soapbox of a blog. and now I am off to do what my gender does best-back to the drawing board. :)

gk*