Absolutely. I was raised to always defend myself. Verbally, and if need be, physically. As an adult I have no tolerance for men who expect me to undermine myself just to preserve their egos or allow them to be masculine. This made my early twenties in bars very interesting. If I was a man, I would have been described as confident, intelligent, and assertive. But acting this way as a woman made me emasculating, a know-it-all, and a “bitch.” Men in bars who tried to hit on me went away very fast if they couldn’t handle me not playing coy and stupid. And I’m glad I did. I am with someone now who never expects me to act like anyone but confident, intelligent, assertive me. He loves me the way I am. You should NEVER disrespect yourself just to make a man feel good. It only gets you into trouble. Before this relationship, I was in a relationship full of verbal and mental abuse. All because this man had decided that he could control me, and that it was okay to manipulate me and use my emotions against me.