Gary Neuman is a lady's man. No, not the funny-SNL-sketch-turned-into-sub-par-feature-film type; he's more the Nicholas-Sparks-pee-sitting-down type. His new book, "Why Men Cheat," discusses the emotional needs of committed men and how infidelity can happen if those needs are not met, all the while coaching women on how to tell if their man is cheating and ways to get back at him (ok, so I don't know if it's actually in his book, but the article on CNN.com is linked to at least three different catch-your-man-in-the-act pieces. Plus the guy was on Oprah. That's -50 right there.)
"Men look strong, look powerful and capable, but on the inside they're insecure like everybody else."--Gary Neuman (no, not that Gary Numan) from The Oprah Winfrey Show, as quoted by CNN.com
Now look at the above quote. I'm no anthropologist, but aren't there only two types of people—men and women? Unless he's also addressing the transgendered or one of the other LGBTGIF's (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Thank God It's Friday), it's pretty clear what he's saying. Here, I'll even offset it in it's own paragraph and quote him:
"All women are insecure" --Gary Neuman
I'm no Susan B., but I'd be pretty insulted if I were a confident woman. Sure, go ahead and say it—there's no such thing as a confident woman—hahahahahahaha... hahahahaha... ha ha ha... heh, heh... but generalizing that all women as insecure is just as bad as saying all men cheat because they're secretly insecure.
What does this have to do with writing (you know, the poorly emphasized theme of this blog?) Precision of language. Not political correctness—far from it, in fact—but using the exact words to convey your message.
What Gary should have said is "Men cheat because they are secretly insecure... actually, I don't really even know what I'm talking about. I actually just came to talk about your new book-of-the-month, Oprah. It's Nicholas Sparks, right?"
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