Author Karen Brody on How to Set Boundaries With Women
Automatic TRANSCRIPT
Exactly. I think first we have to make a distinction for those who didn't hear it. Between complaining and criticizing. Because I think when a woman is criticizing a man, he doesn't want to stand for that. And he generally doesn't want to lead through it. He wants to let her know, hey, this doesn't work for me. So a criticism is when she's disparaging of your character, you know, you're a loser. You can't get anything done. You know, that kind of thing. Then you simply want to say to her look, I'm not going to stand for your criticizing me. If you want to talk about something, I'm here to talk about it. I'm here to listen, but I'm not going to stand for this. And I always suggest that men just walk away. You don't need to do a big confrontation. You don't need to scream. As soon as you get really angry and escalate, you've lost power. It's the way that I see it. When a man, well, I don't love this word, but we use a correct a woman in that way. You know? And he lets her know like I have boundaries. There's a line here as to what I will and will not put up with. She respects him more. And then because we're sensitive and we actually don't want to hurt men, we'll tend to apologize for that kind of behavior. If a man puts up with that over and over and that continues through the years, and that becomes the way that they relate, a man can say to a woman look. Rather than complain when you need something, I'd really prefer you just ask me. Now, is this going to change her immediately? Probably not. But it will encourage her to think about, look, I can really get my needs met more so and better when I just ask him for what I want. And he's eager and willing to help. So that's one