Sorry, the word can be defined as feeling regret. When someone bumps into you and it’s their fault but you say, “sorry.” When you’re asking someone a question thinking that you are acting as a pest, you say, “sorry to bother you.” When you feel like you are talking too much or might sound too demanding you say, “sorry.”
Not many people notice this, but women have the tendency to say sorry for things that aren’t they’re fault or have anything to do with them needing to be sorry. I didn’t notice this habitual pattern until watching A Simple Favor with Blake Lively where she calls out her co-star, Anna Kendrick, for saying the word “sorry” too many times. Lively’s character refers to this habit as a “F***** up female habit.” Once she said that I took notice of how many times I said sorry and how many times the women around me apologized for something that wasn’t even their fault.
It happened at the gym when some girl was walking out of the bathroom and I was walking in. I almost bumped into her, and it was my fault, yet she was the one who said sorry. It happened in my morning class when a girl dropped the attendance sheet as she passed it to me. It happened when I held the door open for a girl bringing in groceries into Campus Town. She said, “Sorry, thank you.”
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So why is it that why we say sorry? Is it just a habit or is it something that, as females, we have been forced into believing? Believing that we need to apologize for what we do, or most importantly, who we are or trying to be. Now, I hardly ever say sorry, or when I do, I reevaluate why am I saying it. Is it because I’m genuinely sorry or is it because it’s a word I was taught to say? A word that would make everything better?
I’m not sorry. That is something we should be saying more and not apologizing for anything unless we actually did something wrong.