> virtually every story they read, TV show they watch or video game they play is essentially a story with two men (or male-identifying nonhuman creatures) pitte

> virtually every story they read, TV show they watch or video game they play is essentially a story with two men (or male-identifying nonhuman creatures) pitted against each other in some form of combat, which inevitably ends with one crowned a hero and the other brutally defeated. [But these stories lack social, collaborative aspects] I recently was suggested Deborah Tannen's "You Just Don't Understand", which presents the model that generally men will act in status-oriented way (with preference for independence, showing off, etc.), whereas generally women will act in a intimacy-oriented way (with preference for cooperation, supporting, etc.). Further, given men and women behave as if from different cultures, it'd be a good idea to be aware of those differences so to fix conflicts which typically arise because of those differences. (The NYT piece sortof agrees with this). But, while you can probably say "narrative of hero defeats monster" is a world away from the method of social interaction which seeks to be likeable and not offend.. but it's not so far from the method of social interaction which seeks to show who's one-up and who's one-down.