This definitely brings back memories of all the side comments from guys in high school in the 80’s. I had undiagnosed ADHD but I also had good grades. A couple of male classmates seemed to go out of their way to point out how “spacey” I was. They also liked to point out how “good” I looked in a pair of tight jeans - female English teacher told me I should take as a compliment instead of as the demeaning BS it was. All of my adult jobs have been in male dominated industries, and it’s only been in the last decade or so that the daily micro aggressions have stopped. Or maybe it’s just that in my last job I was 15+ years older than the guys and they had been raised by moms who grew up in the 70’s and 80’s and taught them better.
This definitely brings back memories of all the side comments from guys in high school in the 80’s. I had undiagnosed ADHD but I also had good grades. A couple of male classmates seemed to go out of their way to point out how “spacey” I was. They also liked to point out how “good” I looked in a pair of tight jeans - female English teacher told me I should take as a compliment instead of as the demeaning BS it was. All of my adult jobs have been in male dominated industries, and it’s only been in the last decade or so that the daily micro aggressions have stopped. Or maybe it’s just that in my last job I was 15+ years older than the guys and they had been raised by moms who grew up in the 70’s and 80’s and taught them better.
Steph, your take is so important! Thank you for writing this!
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻