Thinking out loud: Conditioning

we care more about. “what other people will say!” than our own happiness.

Ever since the day we are born, most of us are conditioned to behave as the society dictates.

Men are conditioned that being aggressive and angry is normal, but crying is not. Similarly, women are conditioned that crying is normal, but being assertive and angry is not.

Men are conditioned that grooming themselves is not normal, it is unmanly. Similarly, women are conditioned that not grooming themselves, not trying to look attractive, is manly.

Women are conditioned to dress, walk, talk carefully so that men don’t get ‘the wrong idea’, and being told that it is the woman’s fault when a man harms her.

Men are conditioned that they should be the breadwinners, staying at home taking care of family is unmanly. Women are conditioned that unless they get married and have children, they are not true women.

Such conditioning gets engraved in our minds because of social pressure, we care more about. “what other people will say!” than our own happiness.

It is time we break out of that mould.