I personally feel like women have been conditioned to apologize for way more than they should have to. Think of how many times you say “I’m sorry” on a daily basis. When someone runs into you. When you curse. When you’ve had a long day and just aren’t up for going out. These are a few examples, but the apologizing epidemic is rampant across the globe. I hear little girls, teenage girls, and grown women apologizing to men and each other for things that don’t even deserve to be given a second thought.
Why do we, as women, feel the need to make up for this feeling of disappointment by immediately blaming ourselves? I believe that this stems from society’s tendency to put the blame on women; not only now, but throughout all of history. Think about cases of rape on college campuses. Until very recently, it was the standard to ask a woman what she was wearing when she was raped. If she was dressed provocatively, or was flirting (God forbid) with the man, the immediate response was that the woman was asking for it. How was the man supposed to know that she didn’t want sex forced on her? Society’s standards have been misplaced for so long that we don’t even realize that what we are doing is because of centuries of oppression.
On the other side of this issue, I don’t hear men apologizing enough to the women in their lives… but that’s another story for another article. If you’re still reading, I hope you will be more conscious today and make sure that you’re apologizing for REAL reasons and not just to fill the awkward silences.