“Every time you say something personal, Tom,” she said, “it seems as though you’re putting more distance between us. There are times you seem very open, but it’s a false openness.” “I’m an American male, Lowenstein,” I said, smiling. “It’s not my job to be open.” “What exactly is the American male’s job?” she asked. “To be maddening. To be unreadable, controlling, bull-headed, and insensitive,” I said. “You’d be amazed at the different points of view I hear expressed by my male and female patients,” she said. “It’s as though they were speaking of citizens from entirely different countries.”
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