When did women become unreliable narrators of our own lives?
When thousands of women report the same patterns, that's not opinion. That's evidence.
Last week, I shared my experience of being told I was "too much" early in my career, then later criticized for lacking "executive presence." I specifically framed this as a female experience, something that disproportionately affects women in the workplace.
The post resonated with thousands of women who'd lived the same impossible contradiction.
But like clockwork, men appeared in the comments and my DMs to tell me I was wrong about my own life.
"You're just playing the victim."
"You're making this about gender when it's really about performance."
"Men go through this too."
And my personal favorite: "Stop making everything about being a woman."
Men felt comfortable sliding into my DMs to argue with me about my own memories, my own performance reviews, my own professional experiences.
This isn't unique to my posts. Watch any woman share her reality and the same script unfolds. The automatic reflex isn't curiosity or support. It's correction, deflection, and dismissal.
