Archive for March, 2009
What is the hope for the future? Must we play out our assigned parts to the closing act? Although we tend to fall back on the habitual ways of talking, repeating old refrains and familiar lines, habits can be broken. Women and men both can gain understanding the other gender’s style, and by learning to use it on occasion.
Women who find themselves unwillingly cast as the listener should practice propelling themselves out of that position rather than waiting patiently for the lecture to end. Perhaps they need to give up the belief that they must wait for the floor to be handed to them. If they have something to say on a subject, they must push themselves to volunteer it. If they are bored with a subject, they can exercise some influence on the conversation and change the topic to something they would rather discuss.