One thing that many males complain about is the female style of shopping. Males usually have a good idea of what they shop for, and go directly to what they want in a store, pick it out, bring it to the checkout counter, and leave the store shortly after they arrive. Contrast this with the female way of shopping. Most females will enter the store and browse. Although they know what they want to find, they look at all the available offerings to see if there is something special that may have been overlooked, and then get to the products they wanted to look at. It doesn't matter whether the woman buys the product or not, as it is the search that seems to count.
Although the above may be an exaggeration of how the two genders tend to approach things, the approaches may relate to our history as a hunter/gatherer species. Given how males process visual input for moving things, it makes sense for males to focus on a specific target, hunt for it, and then "bag it" to being home to the family. Females focus more on stationary visual input and the other senses, and this may have given them an advantage when gathering food. The slight differences in color, smell and taste may make a big difference when gathering food, as being able to interpret the subtle differences in fruits and plants may be the difference in whether one eats poison or nutritious food.
When I started going out as a female, I retained a male way of shopping. I knew what I wanted to buy, and didn't want to waste any time in doing so. Now that I'm retired, my style has changed a little - especially in clothes shopping. I'll browse through catalogs, as well as clothing racks to see if there is something that interests me, and buy things if I find them interesting enough and needed enough. Shopping is more fun now, as I can openly enjoy using the products of my searches - especially when I'm browsing through a candy store, like the one above.
Can you imagine what I'd be like if I were a Size 18 again?
