Been seeing this man who is very traditionally masculine and idk how to feel about some of this.
On one hand, the bad hand, he has some very archaic views about women and gender roles. He was raised by a very old (born in 1944) traditional father (we are only 30 so you do the math) and it has absolutely been ingrained into him that the man is the "head of household" and the woman is…..not? There are a lot of other ideas he has about a woman's role as well that are too long to explain but you get the idea. To his credit, though, he also believes a man is 100% percent responsible for protecting and providing for his family. At his heart he is a good man, I can assure you this.
I am in fact not a traditional person. I wouldn't say im particularly left wing or progressive but my God I certainly don't subscribe to this idea at all—i live alone, pay my own bills, etc. and am NOT looking for a protector or a provider. I'm looking for a companion and obviously someone to view me as their equal within a household (although I guess it's not obvious to him because he straight up told me that he "needs time " to get used to that idea….which is a bit crazy to me, no?? Am I crazy or is that a wild take???) but he says he's open to the idea, which is good I guess? Open to the idea of me being his EQUAL?!
On the other hand, the good hand, despite this man's questionable world view, he has treated me with nothing but respect and dignity. He's been so kind, caring, attentive etc.—- everything most women are looking for in a man. Not to mention he is very talented and well-rounded and emotionally intelligent. And our chemistry is off the charts. I've never met someone like him and I'm insanely attracted to him and we talk for hours on end whenever we are together.
I'm just confused. Idk if I'm looking for advice or just opinions or comments idk. Just leaving this here as a sounding board because I'm considering breaking it off due to his views….but are his views that bad if he is open to the idea of compromise and he treats me better than any man ever has? (His views are a bit more extreme than what I laid out here but it would take forever to explain all the things he's said…let's just say he is a fan of the fresh and fit podcast though which is CLEARLY a huge red flag)
Thoughts appreciated:)