Microaggressions Men Commit Against Women Without Realizing It

Most men claim they love and respect women.

They’ll tell you they were raised by a strong mother, that they have sisters they adore, that they would never disrespect a woman. But when you watch how they behave, you realize that a lot of them only treat women well when they want something from them.

The women they’re attracted to get kindness and attention, while every other woman gets treated with impatience, dismissiveness, or straight-up rudeness.

And the thing is, a lot of these men don’t realize they’re doing it.

They’ve internalized certain behaviors so deeply that they don’t even notice when they’re being disrespectful. They think they’re being normal, maybe even helpful, while the woman on the receiving end is left feeling small, dismissed, or uncomfortable.

Recently, I came across a thread (which, surprisingly, was posted by a man) where people were sharing the small microaggressions men commit against women without even realizing it. And reading through it, I recognized so many of these behaviors, things that have happened to me and to basically every woman I know (and if you do any of these, please stop now).