The Trojan Horse Of Small Talk

By Amy Mahery

What question do women get more often than not when they’re traveling — particularly for work? A question that (from my experience and conversations with others) isn’t asked of men? Well-meaning questions (allowing for the benefit of the doubt) are like trojan horses. On the surface, they look like polite small talk, but inside, they are full of often unconscious (again — benefit of the doubt) assumptions and biases, which are annoying at best and divisive at worst.