A manufactured grievance a woman uses to test the mettle, competence and confidence of her mate. It is an intentional provocation accompanied by an implicit and subconscious desire that the man put his foot down, set reasonable boundaries and demonstrate that he will not be bullied, nagged, shamed or guilted into submission. Its purpose is to confirm for her that he is capable of doing what needs to be done to provide for and protect her and her children. The subconscious thought process is, "If he can't stand up to me, how will he be able to deal with the cavemen down the valley who keep us up all night revving their motorcycles, let alone help bring down a mastodon or fend off the sabre toothed tigers?"

The worst thing a man can do when his woman is shit testing him is assume the grievance is genuine and cave in to her. Despite her seeming demand that he submit, if he does, she will lose respect for him, and once she loses respect for him she will believe that she's with a man who is not worthy of her, which in turn makes her angry and resentful of him. She will then escalate the tests, each grievance becoming more and more outrageous and irrational in a desperate bid for him to finally draw a line and say, "this far, no further."