Funny you should mention those gender stereoypes, Noah, because I was thinking the same thing when I posted my response to your question. Psychologists of the men-are-from-Mars school often say that when couples try to discuss problems, women (West coasters at heart) want sympathy, while men (the East coasters of the natural world) think they're expected to give advice or take action, which is why those discussions never seem to get anywhere. One should always be skeptical of such generalizations in the absence of real evidence, of course...which I suppose is my way of saying that when it comes to distinctions between West Coast and East Coast, I'm from Missouri.