Hi there. My name is Emma, and thank you for clicking. So for today's lesson, we're going
to look at what not to say to women. So this lesson might be a little bit funny, it might
be a little bit comical, but these things are true. I've done some research for this
lesson. I've actually asked many women I know the things that they do not like it when people
say to them. So what happens if you say these things? You know, maybe nothing will happen.
Maybe it will make somebody feel uncomfortable. Worst case scenario, for some of these, they're
more serious. If you're at work and you say some of these things, it could lead to you
maybe losing your job or having some sort of trouble. So some of these are funny, some
of them are more serious, but they're all things that many women, so not all women,
but many women find uncomfortable. So let's get started with this list.
So number one, pregnancy. So one thing that many women feel very uncomfortable about is
if you ask them if they're pregnant, especially if they're not pregnant. Believe me, for many
of the women I asked, this was something that has happened to them, where maybe they have
a little bit of a belly, maybe not, maybe it's just the shirt they're wearing, but somebody
comes up to them and says, "Oh, when are you due?" Or maybe they say, "Are you expecting?
Are you pregnant? Are you going to have a baby?" These are all things you shouldn't
ask women. Even if the woman has a very large belly, you're pretty sure she's pregnant,
just in case, this is something that's better not to ask women, okay?
Number two sort of ties in with number one, weight. So how much does a woman weigh? Usually
you wouldn't ask a woman this, but there are other things too that a lot of women may find
uncomfortable. So for example, if you see a woman eating a lot of food and she's a little
bit overweight, it's not a good idea to comment on this. It's just, in general practice, mentioning
weight to women, whether they're skinny, whether they're fat, whether, whatever, it's just
not a good idea. It makes a lot of women feel uncomfortable and awkward.
Okay, number three, period and PMS. So the period is something that happens to women
once a month, and for some women, their mood changes during this time. Maybe they get a
little bit angry, their mood might change, but you should never bring this up, especially
in a workplace environment. If a woman's angry towards you, maybe there's a reason. It doesn't
necessarily have to do with PMS, but regardless, you should never ask her, "Are you PMSing?
Is this why you're behaving this way? Are you on your period?" These are questions that
you should never ask a woman, especially in the workplace.
So number four, sweetheart, honey, sugar plum, cupcake. These are what we call terms of endearment.
So they're ways to show that you really like someone, and usually people say this to their
wives, their daughters, their girlfriends, maybe their sisters, depending. But these
are things that you should never say to women you work with, unless you know them very,
very well. In general, a lot of women, professional women, might take these terms offensively.
So try not to say, "Hey, sweetheart, can you pass me that file?" No, it's better to just
say, "Excuse me, can you pass me this file?" So try to avoid these words, especially in
the workplace.
Okay, number five, sexual comments. So sexual comments are comments such as, you know, "Hey,
sexy, what's up?" or "You're so hot." Comments that have to talk about how the woman's body
is maybe, how she looks, telling her, you know, things about sex. So especially in the
workplace, this is definitely something that is inappropriate and unprofessional and that
you should not do. It goes the same with women you don't know. Maybe women you know as well,
you shouldn't make these comments to unless they're your girlfriend or something like
that. But in general, try to stay away from sexual comments.
And a side note of sexual comments is body language. So when you talk to a woman, it's
important to look at her face. Don't spend your whole time looking at her body while
you talk to her because the woman's going to notice, and it will make her feel very
uncomfortable, especially in workplace situations.
Now in terms of sexual comments and body language, this is one of the more serious things on
this list. And the reason is, in North America especially, if you make these types of comments
to women, you can possibly be sued for sexual harassment. So it's something to definitely
stay away from.
Okay, number six. "You do that well" for a girl. So we don't know what that is. It could
be maybe, "You drive well" for a girl. "You do math well" for a girl. The reason why this
is a problem is it reinforces stereotypes. So what I mean by this is, by saying something
like this, "You drive well" for a girl, it's pretty much saying, "Girls are horrible drivers.
You're the exception." And so a lot of women don't like to hear this because, first of
all, it's not true, and secondly, a lot of women will find this offensive. So even if
you're trying to give a compliment, for most women, this is not a compliment.
Okay, number seven, age. Now a lot of women, especially older women, sometimes they're
embarrassed about their age. Sometimes they just don't want to say how old they are. So
a good idea is not to ask women, especially older women, "How old are they?" A lot of
women will either lie, or they won't want to tell you, or it will make them uncomfortable.
So age is something you should avoid for most women. Although for some women, they really
don't care. It's better, though, to just avoid this question.
Finally, number eight, "bitch", "cunt", "slut", "whore". What are some other words? "Skank",
"hoe". Now these are words that are very insulting towards women. If you listen to certain music,
you might hear them, maybe on some TV shows, but these words are very, very insulting and
offensive to women. So first of all, never use these in a workplace situation. You could
get in a lot of trouble for that, and even just with women in general, they're not good
words to use. So avoid using these words.
Okay, so I hope you found my list useful. So again, try to avoid all of these, and maybe
I'll hear some more good examples in our comments section. So if you're a woman and you've heard
some sort of comments like these that you found offensive, I hope you'll actually write
a comment about it so we can even make this list longer. So until next time, take care.