[Serious] Women of Reddit: What's the hardest thing about being a women, that you would like men to know?

You might be teaching him something important, so try not to harbor hard feelings for him but absolutely do keep up what you're doing!

I grew up with two sisters; both your typical "girly girls". Baby dolls, followed by boy bands, etc. Any time technical stuff or work came up, they vanished to go gossip or play.

I have many cousins who are women, and every single one of them behaved the same way throughout my childhood and into my mid-twenties.

When I got to university (mid-twenties), I wasn't caught off guard by professors who are women. I've met authority figures who are women my entire life. But to that point, I had never stopped to think about the process they go through to get there.

So, when I met an incredibly sharp, talented young lady mathematician who poured all of her time into study and work, paid no mind to men, and was disconnected from pop culture, she caused me some pause.

I never said anything disrespectful to her, but there were moments where I should have said or done something different, and instead my brain had this weird lag while dealing with this person who didn't match the patterns I had seen to that point. For example, when a peer was questioning her for being a virgin, and it made her uncomfortable, I should have been prepared to tell him exactly why he was in the wrong. But I could only manage one-word responses to show her support while my brain silently corrected a couple of decades of misleading information.

Give him some time. Maybe he's a jerk. Maybe not. You can only judge people by their actions, but keeping in mind that whatever is going on in his head may paint a different picture, being friendly may encourage him to right his own mind.

/r/AskReddit Thread Parent