34 Paula,

Cheryl, all I’m doing is trying to reconcile two statements you made:
1- a man can be harmed in his ego more easily than a woman
2- But we can be mindful of our respect and not purposely try to harm another human being

2 goes both ways but 1 only goes one way. I can’t reconcile those two statements. And I’m taking them on their face, not going beyond them.

I do believe that a man’s ego is usually more fragile than a woman’s just as I also believe that a man’s ego is usually much larger than a woman’s. I have seen exceptions as I have seen women with large egos. These women with large egos also tend to have fragile egos too come to think of it. But for the most part, it is the men who have out-in-front egos. At the same time it was never my intention to say that it would be okay to walk all over a woman’s ego just because she may not be hurt as easily. Some women do take offense very easily and I could be wrong, but these women seem to be the exceptions to the general rule. Perhaps raising kids makes us more even keel 😉

Now as far as going beyond my statements, what I said should not mean that I say that it is okay at all to take advantage of a woman and not care about her ego. What I do try to do with men who have fragile egos or women or are more easily offended is to try to allow them a way to “save face”. Again, I may not be perfect, but I am not interested in publicly shaming anyone and if I realize that this may be what is happening, I try to back off.

I hope this helps!