One thing that comes as a shock to a man is the discovery that many women really don't like each other. They only band together as Simone de Beauvoir says because they need each other. When they do like each other, it is only because there is no way for them to compete with one another.

In fact it is the simplest thing to get many women to admit that they prefer men as friends, quite apart from romance. When two women do love each other, it is a profound love, for there was so much more for it to have overcome in order to exist.

The reason for this unusual dislike is actually quite simple. A man's place is accomplishing something in the world of men. It is his natural place in the world. A woman's place in the world is with her man.

A woman is always aware that women's society is a temporary thing. In fact it is a counter-society to give her greater bargaining power with men. It is a place to go when some man doesn't treat her right. It is not the battlefield, but the first aid station.

Women are very competitive creatures who realize that their status is determined by the men who date and marry them. As women have more success in the economic marketplace this is changing, however. They are very conscious of their status among themselves as to how much men desire them, so it is very difficult for them not to flaunt that status among their fellow women when they get a chance. If they don't have status with men, they are prone to find some catty way to get even with those who do have it.

There is a reason, then, when a man takes a woman to a dance that he looks at all the pretty women first, and she does the same thing. He does so out of desire, and she, to size up the competition.

It is for this reason that it is terribly important, aside from your reputation with women generally, to particularly impress her friends. The secret is to take her arm and hold it tightly while you give all her women friends the impression that you like them, that you could even want them, but her charm holds you fast, and she is woman enough for "this" man.

Praise her to her women friends. One of the greatest ways of charming her is to use her as an example of how a smart woman holds her man. That gives her a reputation to live up to and it puts you in great favor with her since she has to prove to her women friends that she can keep you.