What's the objection to Floor Standing Speakers?

They can tell themselves it's like a vase on a pedestal.

Good one Catfishbob. In my room I have yet to find a good floorstander. To me so far the floorstanders are too forward in the mids and the imaging is not real sounding. There was a wall of sound like I was in a huge concert hall. I prefer the band just in front of me as in a small bar. That being said My room is 26' X 12' with the system on the long wall (no choice) and it's partially due to the nearfield listening. OK I'm sure if I put up enough sponges on the walls and ceiling I could make the floorstanders sound more real. So what I'm saying the room has more to do with it than most (including me before I heard better in my home) people would think. So to me good monitors sound the best and BTW I have Dynaudio C1's. C2's look fantastic in my room but just do NOT sound right. I was so close to upgrading to the C2's (in the end for looks) but asked myself if I were blind which speaker would you rather listen too? That is the best part of in home demos. Now I will admit if I was NOT in the 26 X 12 listening room the C2's did sound better. So for me monitors just work right and to my liking.

You asked why "generally women" have this preference.
I believe that Tvad gave you the accurate answer.
You won't let him grow a vagina, but the need for that vagina is embedded in your question. Next time, ask a manlier question!

As to why some prefer the sound of monitors - I do believe that small and, ahem, stiff, cabinets and the resulting reduced contriubtion from vibrating cabinet walls may be sufficiently appealling to some listeners to justify the sacrificed bass response that could be had from a floorstander with the same footprint. Of course, floorstanders with heroically stiff cabinets (e.g. Wilson) can get you the "best of both worlds", but then the trade-off is price.

Marty

I loved the look of my Totem Model 1's. They were cool looking I thought and easy to move about - well except for the Target 1 stands. They gave way to the Vandersteen 2ce Signatures - frankly these are so ugly they are cute.
I went to my local dealer to look something to replace Vandersteen 1C's with something more and thought monitors might do the trick again. My dealer gave me the same speech outlined above...floorstanders take the same footprint with more bass etc. I thought a good pair of Spendors would be great, small enough to move about... then he brought in a used pair of Aerial Model B's weighing 90lbs each and we fell hard - fantastic sound and beautiful wood....they will hang around the living room for a very long time!!