Blushing Challenges For Women

Excessive blushing has different challenges for each gender. Women who suffer from excessive blushing can have particular difficulties that are different from the difficulties their male counterparts face.

Socially, when a woman who suffers from excessive blushing blushes, there are assumptions made about her character based on negative female stereotypes about blushing. It is sometimes assumed that she is shy, embarrassed or socially uncomfortable when that might not be the case. Although some degree of social anxiety or social phobia is common among people who suffer from excessive blushing, it isn't always embarrassment or anxiety that causes the blushing to happen. It's often the other way around - the blushing happens, which then causes the sufferer to be embarrassed or uncomfortable.

Non-blushers sometimes assume that the blusher is thinking about something that is making them ashamed of their thoughts. This feeds into the stereotype that the blusher is somehow thinking something bad or suggestive. Although insensitive people in the lives of anyone who suffers from excessive blushing may say things just to trigger blushing, women who blush excessively have an additional burden of having to deal with people who make sexually suggestive remarks in order to trigger blushing. This type of sexual harassment can be difficult to deal with because the people around you can sometimes assume that the blushing encourages it, even though the blusher has no control over the excessive blushing.

Women who blush excessively can also face negative attitudes toward them by other women. Some women may misinterpret it as the blusher trying to get attention. The blusher may be accused by other women of doing it on purpose to attract the attention of their husbands or boyfriends, or to try to flirt with bosses or coworkers. This can cause the woman who suffers from excessive blushing to feel even more self-conscious and she may end up withdrawing socially or putting excessive attention into being sure she doesn't do anything that could be interpreted as being inappropriate around other women.

There are also special challenges in the workplace for women who suffer from excessive blushing. In a growing majority of companies in the modern workplace the overall view of women in the workplace is that women are completely equal to men. Rather than men being given certain positions in a company, in the modern workplace the best person for the job is given that position, regardless of gender. For women who suffer from excessive blushing, however, this level of respect that women in generations past worked so hard to gain can come crashing down around them. There can be an assumption among bosses and coworkers that the woman who suffers from excessive blushing is easily stressed, delicate or unreliable. The blushing can also be misinterpreted as panic when faced with tough business situations. A woman's job performance and professional achievements can be negatively overshadowed by her tendency to blush. She may be passed over for promotion because her bosses make the assumption that she would have difficulty dealing with the increased pressure.

These social and professional challenges that women who suffer from excessive blushing have to deal with are, unfortunately, a magnification of the problems that many women still face in today's society.