When I think about a man providing safety for a woman, I think it's about all aspects: emotionally, physically, and financially(which is really a combined subcategory of emotional and physical). Women like to be provided for. And I realize that many of you will read that and say "I have my own job" or "I can take care of myself" etc. But that is not quite what I'm talking about. There is this sense in which a man "covers" a woman and bears the weight of the pressures of the world. Just as Christ covers us and bears our sin. I think that the emotional aspect has been covered by the ladies better than I would have articulated myself so I'll let their answers stand in. Physically however I don't know that many men realize how scary it can be to be a woman. Men are so much stronger than women, even when there is no size difference. As a man I try to conceptualize it as: Think if you were going to walk down an unknown street in the city at night where the people were of unknown character, but they were all heavyweight class MMA fighters and you had to carry a bank roll of 100's in each hand. 
Women are walking around where the majority of men are stronger than them, sometimes very much, like what they have (their bodies), and have no indicators as to what kind of person they are or their intent. By the very act of walking around with a woman in public you are covering her and extending your "privilege" of strength to her. And I think that the act of sex (at least a certain kind) is a physical representation of the relationship of headship as it relates to a man being the protector. The wife's back is protected and her vulnerable and vital parts are turned towards him and his to hers, and their mutual vulnerability allows them to be intimate. But she is not exposed, but rather she's covered by her husband and his back is turned to the world. And that reflects the way Christ exposed his back to the world so that he could bear our stripes. And when a woman feels emotionally and physically safe she feels loved and flourishes like the Church flourishes under the love of Christ. At least I've always taken note of the way a woman who marries a good man starts to act and carry herself. I apologize if this derails the thread, but if you can't tell I've done a lot of thinking on this subject.
Women are walking around where the majority of men are stronger than them, sometimes very much, like what they have (their bodies), and have no indicators as to what kind of person they are or their intent. By the very act of walking around with a woman in public you are covering her and extending your "privilege" of strength to her. And I think that the act of sex (at least a certain kind) is a physical representation of the relationship of headship as it relates to a man being the protector. The wife's back is protected and her vulnerable and vital parts are turned towards him and his to hers, and their mutual vulnerability allows them to be intimate. But she is not exposed, but rather she's covered by her husband and his back is turned to the world. And that reflects the way Christ exposed his back to the world so that he could bear our stripes. And when a woman feels emotionally and physically safe she feels loved and flourishes like the Church flourishes under the love of Christ. At least I've always taken note of the way a woman who marries a good man starts to act and carry herself. I apologize if this derails the thread, but if you can't tell I've done a lot of thinking on this subject.
