I keep getting stuck with the wives. Help!

Dear Aunty B,

I am sick to death of going to work functions and ending up talking to wives. Yes, I am a woman, but I want to talk about business and sport (I am a St Kilda supporter) and inevitably I get introduced to a wife and reduced to talking about their children.

While these are perfectly nice women, I don’t share their interests. And they don’t share mine. As soon as I start to talk about business, they get bored and turn the conversation back to something else.

What can I do to avoid wives? I try to make sure I am not offloaded by the men onto their wives but when I start talking to them they take me over, introduce me to their wives and then make a break for it. I am in a very male dominated industry that tends to have regular “family functions”.

Woman with testosterone,
Vic

Dear Woman with testosterone,

I think you have the wrong end of the stick. Many men are quite insecure. They just assume women want to talk to other women – and usually they are quite right! They also would rather talk to women. It’s just they get stuck with other chest beating men, in a desperate debate about who is better, richer, smarter, drives a bigger car and barracks for the better football team.

If I were you I would RELAX. Judge the conversation on the person, not the gender. If you feel like talking to a particular person, politely excuse yourself to get a drink and then head out to the deck or the balcony and join the conversation. Either that or move to another country where genders mix better. (Does one exist?)

Good luck,
Your Aunty B

 

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