• different-points-of-view-dylan-and-del-rey
• 🖼️ passive_aggressive.png
• 🖼️ passive_assertive_aggressive.png
• "How to Win Friends and Influence People"
• 🖼️ female_perceived_as_aggressive.png
• No, We Won’t Calm Down — Tone Policing Is Just Another Way to Protect Privilege
• geekfeminism: Tone Argument

On Recognizing Assertiveness.

As someone who struggles to speak up, I remember when I first learned about "assertiveness"

This was a revelation.

I tended to be passive, and I feared that speaking up would be too aggressive. In my mind, there was passive on one side, aggressive on the other, and very little in between.

Someone pointed out to me that there's this big middle-area called assertiveness.

Fantastic stuff! State what you need in a clear manner, and you have a good chance of landing solidly in the middle, no harm done; everybody wins.

So thereafter I worked on employing this 'assertive' business rather than shying away entirely, or being over-rude and landing in aggressive territory. Of course, I failed a lot of times, but that's a separate story. There are books that can assist in helping you achieve this. The most famous is "How to Win Friends and Influence People"