Why Do People Always Assume I’m Dumb?
Is it my gender, my blond hair, or something else?
Lately, I’ve been noticing that people somehow just seem to think I’m dumb.
I don’t know if this has been happening my whole life, and I am just now noticing it, or if this is something new that’s only started happening recently. Either way, though, it drives me crazy, and I can’t figure out how to turn it around.
What is it about me that makes people think I’m a bobblehead when they look at me? Is it because I’m a woman? Is it because I am on the younger side? Is it because I have blond hair? Is it because I wear makeup and people think “girly-girls” can’t be smart? Honestly, I have no idea.
It happens about the most mundane of things. Once, at a coffee shop, I was trying to stab a straw through the cap on my drink and accidentally opened it from the wrong side. It was mere seconds before a man behind me shouted, “Ope, ya got the wrong side! Flip it up!” As if I couldn’t figure it out myself (which I did — right as he was trying to counsel me on a straw. A STRAW.)
It happened in New York City when I was traveling with a huge group of people and no one knew how to navigate the subway. I, a huge NYC lover, city girl, and experienced traveler, tried to tell them the closest and most efficient…
