Why we Second Guess Ourselves

  The show “Criminal Minds,” follows a team of the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit who tracks down and identifies serial killers. At least once a season, halfway through an episode, one of the detectives would say something along the lines of “guys, I think we’re looking at this all wrong. I think our unsub is a female,” and everyone would look up with a distinguished look of realization. Most of the time this discovery was made by looking at the criminal's language alone. They could observe that males spoke more demandingly and tended to talk more about themselves than their victims. Female killers on the other hand tended to be more detailed; they focused on the victim and the family and would also typically perform ‘cleaner’ crimes. I was always fascinated with these observations, however they do align with our society's predisposed gender roles, which are prevalent in all language (not just serial killer ransom letters). 

Women seem to always serve a subservient role to that of a man. Women and girls tend to feel as though they must be more deliberate in not only their words used, but their delivery as well. I would argue that this originates in childhood, from women having to over explain themselves because they lack the excuses that are typically given to their male counterparts. Men are given the opportunity to mess up; which we’ve seen while talking about sexism in reference to women in positions of power, such as politicians, coaches, and teachers. This even extends to younger generations; where young girls are more often given household responsibilities, whereas boys are given the overly forgiving “boys will be boys” excuse. This inturn instills an overly confident approach to language in men, who are more likely to speak over women and not second guess their word choices or opinions.