hmmmm...felt as a woman, I should chime in
One thing I've noticed over and over is that women tend to like to vent when things bother them or just in general and men tend to want to 'fix' whatever it is the woman is venting about.
Sometimes, when I do it, I'm just looking to offload something in my head...not looking for advice or anything...maybe just acknowledgment/affirmation (as in 'yep, that was pretty lame of him/her to do that/say that to you') or show interest in my feelings (as in 'wow, did you respond to that? what did you say/do?') Not really looking for 'If I were you I would have....' or 'you need to ....'
I think that's why when you see a group of women having dinner together, they are often huddled close chatting away...they tend to listen to each other and are very supportive of one another so we, in general, have learned to interact in this way since we were young. I have to give men credit for trying to figure us out
And MT, regarding the chocolate thing...I guess women have the right to change their mind at random
....
"From at least medieval times until the early 20th century, a man's promise of engagement to marry a woman was considered, in many jurisdictions, a legally binding contract. If the man were to subsequently change his mind, he would be said to be in "breach" of this promise and subject to litigation for damages.
The converse of this was seldom true; the concept that "it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind" had at least some basis in law (though a woman might pay a high social price for exercising this privilege) — and unless an actual dowry of money or property had changed hands, a man was unlikely to recover in a "breach of promise" suit against a woman, were he even to be allowed to file one (although there were certainly exceptions to this)."
Ah well, life ain't always fair.