Most women have had the experience of being in a group of men, saying something absolutely profound, and getting no response at all, only to hear one of the men say the same thing a few minutes later and be immediately acknowledged as brilliant. The woman (who has been made invisible or nonexistent) starts to wonder what she did wrong, or what is wrong with her, and she says little or nothing from that point on (which may be the expected, hoped-for response).

Anne Schaef