Why the Donna Reed Show helped marriages while The Gilmore Girls hurt it. How boys started reneging on the social contract to become men back during the 1960s. Till then, boys sought to grow into men who would marry and who would cherish and protect their wives. Then, in what will turn out to be history’s most remarkable case of mass arrested development, little boys grew into big boys and big boys became 40 year-old adolescents. Men surrendered their natural authority in relationships. They then renounced responsibility so, understandably, the women had to step in. Whether in politics, business, or male/female relationships, nature abhors a vacuum.