Re “Why are the men around me doing all the talking?” by Judy Kugel (Ideas, March 22): When I attended Emerson College in the ’70s, we read communications studies that showed that despite the stereotype of women being chatterers, it was men who did most of the talking in social and business situations. It’s sad to me that 50 years later this hasn’t changed.
Women have been taught to be assertive, but have men been taught to ease up on their airtime?
Alice F. Stern
West Roxbury
The generalizations Judy Kugel makes about men in her senior community are akin to the sort of stereotypes for which others might be rebuked if they uttered them about women.
The “men talk about 90 percent of the time”? They “probably held leadership positions before retiring” and “miss being in charge”?
I have no doubt that the conversations Kugel refers to were indeed dominated by men, but I am confident she could have made her point without painting men with such a broad brush.
Michael R. Abend
Wayland
The men in Judy Kugel’s senior community may “talk about 90 percent of the time,” but this is hardly true in my age-integrated community, where all genders are equally talkative.
Men often get criticized for mansplaining, but women never get criticized for womansplaining.
Why can’t my fellow liberals realize that anti-male bias is still bias?
Felicia Nimue Ackerman
Providence