It's not something I'm putting forward as a clear demarcation between the way the two genders behave -- it's more as if I suspect that there's some correlation between a person's gender and the way they behave in this specific circumstance.
Suppose person A describes to person B some facet of A's situation. Something not terribly pleasant, something that A is worried about.
Person B could respond with sympathy (oh, that's awful, how bad you must be feeling) or with advice (you should phone C and ask them to do X, you should try to do Y or Z).
Now I think that there's a predisposition for a female B to respond with sympathy, and for a male B to respond with advice.
I think also that there's a likelihood that a female A is seeking sympathy, and a male A is seeking advice.
Furthermore, and as a result, I think that if A and B are opposite genders, there's likely to be some bafflement when the two start talking at cross purposes.
To repeat: I'm not putting this forward as if it's a rule, it's just that I think there's some correlation between gender and the way people communicate.
I doubt these ideas are new.
Of course, I could be talking total rubbish here.
